


The Art of Growing Up

by all_the_kings_ham



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Brothers, College AU, Lucifer/Sam Winchester Fluff, M/M, Missed Connections, Mutual Pining, Slow Burn, a little Sam and Michael love connection that won't ruin things, and some good fuzzy friendship feels, dumb teenagers, like we're almost at chapter 20 now and they're still just making eyes at each other awkwardly, mixed with some good and lovely, really dumb teenager Sam doing some really dumb but not detestable things, sam and lucifer, supportive family, this is after all, under aged drinking, you can taste the mess from the first chapter alone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-10
Updated: 2020-09-08
Packaged: 2020-12-07 17:36:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 34
Words: 165,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20979755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/all_the_kings_ham/pseuds/all_the_kings_ham
Summary: It's the start of Sam's first year in college and very quickly he is discovering that he's got a lot of growing to do





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Did anyone ask for a new story so soon?   
No.  
But do you know who is getting one?   
It's you. Yes you. Whoever you are reading this, it is you * jazz hands*

The Guns and Roses shirt was stolen. Not in the traditional sense, so much as Dean simply hadn’t given Sam permission to pack it up and take it with him when he left. And Sam knew that he shouldn’t have shoved it into the bottom of his backpack before hopping the bus for Stanford, but his big brother had always called it his ‘lucky shirt’ and Sam figured that between the two of them he was the one who needed all the luck he could get.

It fit ok in the shoulders, but hung loose around his chest, because he was still just a few weeks past his eighteenth birthday and he hadn’t quite finished growing yet. All the height but none of the muscle and most days he felt like a grasshopper in jeans. 

He stood a little taller, looking at himself in the mirror on the back of the closet door.

Maybe it was just because it was Dean’s shirt, and Dean had always been the epitome of ‘cool older brother’ in Sam’s eyes, but tonight it seemed like he filled out the clothes a little bit better than usual. Like maybe he could manage to pass for someone in their early twenties.

A car outside started blaring on the horn, and when he looked out the window he saw his roommate Benny standing outside the dorm building, leaning on a car that Sam didn’t recognise. 

Time to go.

This would be his first college party, and as he made his way down the stairs visions of ‘Animal House’ and ‘Revenge of the Nerds’ played in his head―even though he was sure that college parties in movies were always played up. This was a Halloween party and the friend he was going with had assured him many times over that no one was even going in costume. Couldn’t get much more casual and low key than that. It would probably just be some older students hanging out at someone’s apartment, maybe giving candy to any kids that came by. 

Sam grinned at Benny, before folding himself into the back seat and doing his best to greet the other two people who’d been waiting. Chris worked with Benny at the blood bank, and Sam had met him a couple times before. The other guy was named Steve and he was Chris’ best friend. 

They got on the road as the sun was starting to sink low. Sam didn’t know where the party was exactly, though he could say it was West of campus, because they seemed to be driving directly towards the setting sun. Glaring light meant that Sam ignored the street and freeway signs in favor of keeping his eyes squinted mostly closed while talking to the other guys. 

Chris was alright, though a little strange as he told them stories about when he was a kid and him and his buddies would put firecrackers in jack-o-lanterns on stranger’s porches. 

Steve seemed like a bit of a tool, adding to the story of childhood delinquency by talking about chicks in revealing costumes and how he wished that there were more excuses than just Halloween for them to dress up in practically nothing. Following it up with how last year he’d met a ‘hot chick’ dressed like a sexy nun and how she’d given him the best blowjob of his life. 

Though Sam liked to consider himself a very accepting sort of person, he decided rather quickly that he wouldn’t be becoming close friends with Steve any time soon. 

The car’s conversation stayed on the topic of women and Sam hoped that no one would notice that he didn’t have any exploits to add to the mix. 

The lucky shirt didn’t seem capable of saving him though.

“Heya, Sam,” Chris met his eye in the rearview mirror. “You’re awful quiet back there. Don’t they have girls out in Kansas?”

“We had plenty of girls.” He shifted and looked out the window on his side. 

“Yeah.  _ And _ …”

“And I’m not really much of a story teller,” he mumbled, fighting back the warmth he felt creeping into his cheeks.

“Come on,” Steve urged, digging into Sam’s side with an elbow. “What are those country girls like? Do they keep their boots on, or what?”

“He’s a good kid.” Benny butted in. “Leave him alone.”

“Good kids can get laid too, Ben.” Chris laughed, not in a mean way, almost like he was trying to defend Sam’s lady catching powers that did not actually exist. 

“Yeah, mister full ride scholarship,” Steve’s elbow found Sam’s ribs again. “Chicks dig smart guys. So come on, you let any of those cowgirls ride you?”

“Sure.”

“ _ Sure _ ?” Chris looked in the mirror again. “Details, Sam. Details.”

Sam had exactly zero details to share, and he was very grateful for the night outside giving him some darkness to hide his burning face in. “I’m... not the kiss and tell kind of guy,” or at least he would be if there were kisses to not tell about.

“Oh god. What a nerd,” Steve laughed and Chris joined him. 

So did Benny. 

Sam started to regret coming. 

The car ride was nearly an hour, which was officially way too long.

By the time they got off the interstate and pulled up to a two story beach house with every single light inside on, Sam was more restless than he’d been in his whole life. 

Music was playing, loud enough that they could clearly hear it from their parking spot half way down the street. Stretching his legs and resting his arms on the top of the car, Sam looked up at the glowing mansion. 

“Whose house is this again?”

Benny grinned. “It’s Chris’ sister’s best friend’s cousin's uncle’s place.”

“He’s this big shot lawyer,” Chris explained. “Off on some trip to Europe of whatever and Gabriel’s house sitting.”

Sam could only assume that whoever Gabriel was, was the ‘cousin’ in that whole long chain of people. Or not. The exact relationship obviously wasn’t all that important. What was important was that this here wasn’t just Sam’s first college party. This was also Sam’s first unsanctioned house party. 

And though he felt sort of nervous as they made their way up to the unlocked door, and into the mess of strangers inside, there was something sort of forbidden and exciting about it all. 

Chris and Steve drifted off almost instantly, and Sam wasn’t sorry to see them go. He stubbornly stuck close to his roommate, following Benny through the crowded house. And even packed with laughing and talking people, with dollar store Halloween decorations taped up to every wall, it was obviously a very, very nice house. 

Benny wove through the party, saying ‘hello’ from time to time to people that apparently he knew. Some dudes got fist bumps or one armed hugs. A few girls got longer hugs. More than half of those strangers gave the same greeting to Sam as they had to Benny. As the fourth girl that he’d never met in his life (in costume by the way, like most of the people here) wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a rough squeeze, Sam started to think that maybe Benny didn’t actually know any of these people. And maybe, just maybe the friendly hellos had more to do with all the red solo cups being passed around than any kind of actual friendship. 

As Sam laughed a little uncomfortably and uncurled himself from the giggling girl in a thigh length sparkly angel costume complete with wings, Sam realised that he couldn’t see Benny anymore. 

“What’s wrong, hon?” The girl asked over the music, looking up at him with very warm brown eyes.

“I… I lost my friend.”

“Oh no.” She looped an arm through his, her waves of long blonde hair tickling against his bare skin. “Come on, I’ll help you find him.”

They made their way around the downstairs. Stopping every now and then so she could lean into some of the strangers and say, “Hey, we’re looking for… who was it again?”

“Benny,” Sam supplied, sort of charmed by the way she kept smiling up at him with the smallest sparkle of glitter on her cheeks.

“We’re looking for his friend Benny.” She informed groups of people before asking, “You seen him?”

No one had seen, or seemed to know who Benny was. 

Which was fantastic. 

They found the kitchen before too long, and somehow while asking around for Benny, Sam found himself with a red cup in his hands.

He drank, because it would be rude not to, only to discover that it wasn’t soda.

Glancing at the counter he saw a bottle of expensive looking rum beside the many two liters of Cola. He also saw vodka and whiskey and a few other things whose labels he didn’t instantly recognise.

His throat was burning and he stifled a cough into his cup, hoping that no one would notice. It’s not like he’d never had alcohol before, but stealing sips of beer from the bottle while his brother worked on the car wasn’t quite the same as this. 

The cute blonde had a cup of her own, holding it and smiling, still clinging on to Sam while she chatted with another girl who was pouring more of the generously mixed drinks.

Pink painted nails were tracing little lines up and down Sam’s wrist and he found himself taking another painful sip to try and calm the twisting sort of feeling in his stomach. 

“Sorry,” the ‘bartender’ said with a sudden laugh. “I’m being hella rude over here. I’m Abby.”

“S-Sam,” he put on what he hoped was a good grin. 

“You from San Fran State?”

“Stanford,” Sam corrected and instantly wondered how far they’d driven to get here that someone would just assume he was going to college in San Francisco, instead of San Jose or somewhere closer.

“Shut up. I didn’t know anyone was coming up from Stanford.” Abby winked at the girl dressed as an angel. “They always have the cutest guys down there. Are you going to be a lawyer?”

“I hope so?” Sam was not cut out for this kind of small talk, and he took another sip. This one a bit longer. 

“So cool,” she praised. “I wish my boyfriend had that kind of ambition. Ugh, but no. He’s an  _ artist _ . God if he wasn’t so hot I’d dump him,” she laughed, tipping more vodka into Sam’s cup. 

“He’s looking for his friend Benny,” the blonde said, resting her cheek against Sam’s arm. “You know any Bennys?”

“Sorry. No. But I don’t know most of the people here. I came with Cameron and Shannon.”

“Oh,” Sam said as if the names meant something to him. “Benny’s my roommate. He’s friends with Gabriel.” Which was almost definitely untrue, but hopefully he wouldn’t have to back up the claim, because in all actuality he was sort of crashing this party. But it seemed that most of the people here were so maybe it wasn’t a big deal.

“Gabe is  _ so _ cute.” Abby laughed happily, biting her lip and pouring a little more in both their cups. “Don’t you think so, Lil? He’s like this little puppy.”

“He’s my cousin,” the woman resting on Sam’s arm made a face, “so no. I’d say he’s more like a miniature jackass.”

Abby’s laugh was a little too loud, and the others in the kitchen glanced over. “But he has the best parties.”

“Fuck yeah,” some random person yelled, and a few others agreed eagerly.

Sam drank more, each time hoping it would burn a little less. 

“Come on,” his escort smiled up at him with very soft looking lips. “Let’s keep lookin’ for your roommate.”

Letting himself be dragged around if only because it was better than going alone, Sam followed the pretty blonde who seemed to have adopted him. 

Since the ground floor had been covered they checked out in back. There was a fire pit, a swimming pool with floaties shaped like ghosts and jack-o-lanterns, and about two dozen very happily drunk people. 

No faces looked familiar to Sam, but it was sort of nice to pause on the edge of the yard and lean against the low fence. The cool ocean breeze whipped his hair around his face and took away some of that claustrophobic feeling he’d been starting to get after being crammed inside for too long.

His new friend tucked up against his side. “It’s a little cold out here.”

“Yeah, a little,” Sam couldn’t argue, but he wanted to when she took his arm and pulled it around her shoulders. To be fair, her skin was a little chilled, but then again she also wasn’t wearing all that much.

So he kept her close, if only because it was the gentlemanly thing to do. 

“So, um, you’re Lil?”

“Mmhm. Lilith. But all my friends call me Lil.”

“Ok. I’m Sam.”

“Hi, Sam.”

“Hi, Lilith.” He smiled and drank a little more to try and ease his discomfort. He wasn’t all that good with girls, despite all the advice and help his brother had tried to give him over the years. Always pushing him at any pretty little thing that came by. 

Sam got it. He really did. 

He was weird.

A bit of a disappointment to his big brother.

But fitting girls into his busy high school schedule had never really worked for Sam―and he guessed that maybe he’d just spent too many years with his face in a book to really have learned how to appreciate the sort of situation that he was currently in. 

Alcohol might help.

Lilith seemed to notice that he’d finished draining his drink, and with a soft laugh, she placed her still full cup into his now empty one.

And that was sort of the last clear memory that Sam had of the party.

It felt like going to the theaters and someone screwed up when switching the reels, going from part one straight on to part three.

Balcony and laughing one moment, and then the next he was spilling out onto rough gravel that cut into his knee through the hole in his jeans, and into the palms of his hands, while he heaved and puked in the dark.

The acidic taste of liquor burned his throat so much worse coming up than it had going down. And when had he even had a chance to drink so much? He swore it had only been one small cup.

God, he’d never drink again.

Skull pounding, stomach aching, limbs so weak he couldn’t hold himself up.

Sam wanted to die.

Instead he lay down on the ground, whimpering out a pained noise that he couldn’t quite hold back. At least the ground was cold to the touch, even if it was possibly the most uncomfortable place he’d ever laid his head. Rocks cutting into his cheek, chest, and stomach, the smell of his own sick stinging his nose.

A hand was touching the back of his neck. Rough fingers that were oddly kind of soothing making gentle circles for a moment before a second hand found his shoulder and Sam was being rolled onto one side.

“Come on,” a soft voice was saying. “You lay like that you’re gonna’ end up choking to death on your own puke. It’s not an attractive way to die, Sammy.”

“Dean?” Sam wanted to sob with relief. “I drank too much.”

“Yeah you did.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Eh, we all got to be dumb asses at some point. And you sure had more than enough help. At least you managed not to vomit in my truck.”

Dean didn’t own a truck.

Weakly, Sam opened an eye, straining to look up. 

He was definitely outside and it was still night. There weren't any buildings he could see, just bits of tree tops scraping the blur of heavy clouds, and a man he didn’t recognise.

Short, light colored hair and a smile that only turned up one side of his mouth.

“I… who are―” Sam bit off the question as he found one far more important. “Where’s my shirt?”

“Back in the truck with your belt.”

Sam patted himself, only to feel something between anger and fear grip him when he noticed that indeed his belt was missing, and just as concerning, the top button of his jeans was undone.

“Come on, Sammy.” The man held a hand out to him. “It’s fuckin’ cold and it’s starting to rain. If you’re done puking your guts out I’d like to get back in the truck.”

“No one calls me Sammy.” He hit the offered hand away and tried to sit up, feeling a little too naked and vulnerable laying in the fetal position on the ground, half undressed. “Who are you? Where am I? What’s going on?”

“Christ, you’re jumpy.” The man sat back on the balls of his feet, raising an eyebrow.

“Who the fuck are you?”

“You really did have way too much to drink. Didn’t ya’? We had this conversation back when I hauled your sorry ass out of the party. Call me Luci.”

“No.” Sam didn’t remember leaving the party. He hardly remembered even getting there in the first place.

“Ok. Well, you can call me Lucifer if you like it better, but most people don’t.”

“How do you know my name?”

“It’s on your ID. Well,  _ Samuel _ is, but you don’t look like a Samuel.” The guy was starting to sound annoyed. “Look, I’ve got just enough morals to not leave you out here to die, but just barely, and most of those are because half the people at that party saw the fight I had with my cousin when I was leaving to take you home.”

“I’m  _ not _ going home with you,” Sam said a little too quickly. 

“Good.” He ran a hand through his hair and stood. He was very tall. “I don’t want you at my place. I don’t  _ want  _ you at all, if that’s what’s goin’ on in that head of yours.”

If Sam could believe this strange man who seemed to have loosely kidnapped him, then that simple statement was sort of comforting. 

“Look, I’m just tryin’ to get you wherever it is you’re supposed to be, instead of too drunk to stand, at a party you’re not even old enough to be at, getting held down and undressed by a couple girls. I mean, whatever gets your rocks off I guess, but you  _ really  _ didn’t seem into it, Sammy.”

“I-I…” Sam couldn’t remember. 

And maybe that was a good thing.

Rain was starting to fall, more than just a soft patter, heavy drops hitting Sam’s bare shoulders and back. 

“Deep breath,” the man instructed.

And only then did Sam realise that he was struggling to breathe. 

“Come on. Deep breath in,” he crouched back down, rain making dark speckles over his shoulders, “hold it, and let it out. There you go. You’re ok. Whatever they gave you’s probably mostly out of your system by now. You’re fine.”

He didn’t feel fine.

He wasn’t even in the same zip code as fine.

A hand was being held out to him once more, an offering to help him to his feet.

Hesitantly he took the man’s hand and only stumbled a little as he was hauled up, slightly surprised to see that they were the same height. He was a lot more surprised to realise that his legs weren’t up to the task of holding him vertical and he came crashing into the other man.

“Shit,” Luci’s arms caught Sam like he’d been waiting to, expecting it. He was warm and solid, smelling faintly of beer and sweat and something nice. “Ok, so maybe whatever they slipped in your drink is still hanging on. Come on. I got ya’.”

Sam kept an arm looped around the man’s back, gripping his shoulder while they moved those few steps back to a very old truck. He found his lucky shirt on the bench seat, his belt on the floor. Shaking only a little from the cold, he used the old tee like a towel before pulling it on over his head.

Through the rain streaked windshield he could barely see the other guy run around the front of the truck to the driver’s side. Hopping in, shaking water from his hair, he blinked at Sam in the glow of the yellow cabin light. 

“You’re gonna’ be fine, Sammy.”

“It’s just Sam.” He let his head fall back, feeling no better in the truck than he had out of it. His stomach was still rolling and he felt only remotely attached to his limbs.

“Alright,  _ Sam _ . Where you from?”

Closing his eyes to try and calm the spinning feeling he muttered, “Lawrence.”

“Is that a street name?”

“No. It’s Kansas.” He wrapped his arms around himself for warmth. 

“Like hell am I driving you to Kansas.” The truck’s engine rumbled to life and warm air started to pour from the vents.

Sam relaxed a little, sinking lower into the seat while that dizzy sort of feeling kept rolling through him. “No. Just to the dorms. I need to sleep. I’ll feel better if I sleep.”

The reels jumped again, a whole section of the night missing, and when Sam opened his eyes the world was startlingly bright. Cringing, he pressed his hands over his eyes and curled onto his side as best he could, seeking shelter in the softness under his cheek.

“You gunna’ puke again?”

Some combination of that unwelcome voice and the bright white of the lights made Sam want to start sobbing. 

“Seriously. You going to puke? Do I need to move?”

“No,” he hissed between his teeth. “Please shut up.”

The talking stopped. 

The light stayed.

His whole body hurt and dimly Sam wondered if this was what a hangover felt like―and if it was then he promised that he’d never ever drink again for the rest of his life.

Not sure how long he’d been curled up feeling sorry for himself, Sam had sort of forgotten that he wasn’t alone, and he jumped a little as a hand slid over his own. Irritated, he tried to slap it away and growled in annoyance as the hand came right back and grabbed his wrist.

“Stop,” he half begged, wanting only to be left alone to wallow in his misery.

“Drink this.”

“No.”

“You need to drink something. You’re dehydrated.” The hand around his own guided him to a paper cup.

Squinting into the bright lights, Sam frowned. He wasn’t in his bed. He wasn’t in the dorms at all. He was curled sideways on the seat of a truck, cheek resting against a man’s chest. It wasn’t daylight outside, it was the welcoming glow of a Starbucks’ parking lot. 

From the smell of it, it was a mint tea being pressed into his hand.

More than a little self conscious, Sam sat upright and took the tea, sipping quietly.

The man in the driver’s seat was the same one that had peeled him off the gravel at some point earlier. Sam’s head was telling him that the guy’s name was Luci which didn’t sound right, but then again Sam didn’t feel right so maybe it was just life finding some kind of equilibrium.

Halfway into the lukewarm tea his stomach had started to settle, giving him one less problem to fixate on, which freed up enough thought processes to consider where he was and who he was with.

Or ever better―how much he had absolutely no idea where he was or who he was with.

Cautiously, he looked sideways at the driver’s seat. The bright street lights outside making it so much easier to see him than when they’d been outside in the rain. He was older than Sam by a few years, probably mid twenties, deep eyes with that sleep deprived sort of bruising around them that only made them look so much bluer than they could possibly be. He looked like he needed a nap and maybe a shave. A scruffy sort of guy with a hint of a tattoo showing around the curve of his wrist while he picked at the order sticker crookedly placed on his own Starbucks cup. 

Apparently he’d got himself a black coffee.

He did look like the plain black coffee sort of guy.

Luci (which really,  _ really _ couldn’t be his real name) caught Sam’s eye and offered one of those tight and uncomfortable smiles.

It was only then that Sam realised he’d been staring and instantly looked down at his hands instead, mashing the edge of the tea’s lid with both thumbs. “Thanks… you know, in case I didn’t manage to say it earlier.”

“You did. Somewhere between the kissing and the vomiting, I’m pretty sure you managed to work in a ‘thank you’.”

Sam blinked and looked back over. “Who, um… who was I kissing?”

“You really don’t remember, do you?”

He didn’t think that he’d had that much to drink―two cups at most―but he should still remember something. Right? Pressing a hand to his forehead, he searched what little scraps were left to him. “I went to this party with my roommate Benny and some of his friends. I… I got seperated from them and… and…” Sam grunted softly in frustration at his own muddled brain.

“And you got yourself roofied by some girls.”

Sam blinked. And then blinked again. “I did?”

“Mmhm. My cousin Lil’ and her friend Abby. They have this thing where they like to catch cute and unexpecting gay guys and―”

“I’m not gay.”

“Oh- _ kay _ .” It was Luci’s turn to blink more than necessary. “ _ Bi _ sexual, or pan, or whatever you want to be called then.”

“I’m very straight.” Sam couldn’t believe he even had to say it outloud. It should have been obvious.

“Bull shit.”

“Excuse me?”

“I had to fight you off after I got you out here to the truck, which would have been a hell of a lot harder if you weren't a gangly son of a bitch and barely conscious.” Luci pointed at Sam with an accusing shake of his coffee. “Thankfully you passed out, but you never told me where to take you, and you don’t have a cell phone so I can’t call anyone for you, and your driver’s license says Kansas so…”

Sam couldn’t have been frowning harder if he tried. “I go to Stanford.”

“ _ Stanford _ ?” The other man repeated unnecessarily. “Course you live on the other side of the bay. Why wouldn’t you? It’s perfectly normal to drive an hour and a half to crash a party.”

“I guess there were no good parties going on back home,” Sam tried to joke his way through his own discomfort at the suggestion of his own actions tonight.

Luci’s smile was this crooked little thing that he turned away to hide all too quickly. “Alright. That’s fair. You want a ride back?” 

“To the party?”

“To Stanford.”

“I… um…” Sam had his keys. He  _ could  _ just go back home. He still felt like half of a hot mess and the idea of crawling into his own bed sounded amazing―and really, an hour sitting here beside this stranger didn’t sound as bad as it should. A thought that actually scared Sam on a fundamental level he wasn’t ready to address right then. “Benny, my roommate, he’s probably worried about me by now. I really should head back to the party.”

“By roommate do you mean  _ boyfriend _ ?”

“I am STRAIGHT.” Sam’s cheeks burned.

Luci held up one hand and his coffee in surrender before putting the cup between his knees and turning the keys in the ignition. “Sure don’t kiss like you are,” he muttered under the growl of the engine and the soft  _ shoosh _ of the windshield wipers.

It was a very short drive back to the beach house, which was half comforting (because it meant that he really hadn’t been taken very far at all), and half upsetting (because after about two miles the ride was done).

“Is this the right place?” Sam squinted through the rain soaked windshield.

“Yeah.”

“You sure?”

“ _ No _ ,” the man turned off the truck and pocketed his keys with a roll of his eyes. “I have no idea what my uncle’s house looks like. I only spent the last three weeks living here.”

“W-where is everyone?” The street was nearly empty, the only lights on in the house were one window downstairs.

“Cops probably broke it up.” Luci opened his door and hesitated, looking back over his shoulder. “You think you can walk?”

“Why wouldn’t I be able to walk?”

“Because I have no idea what Lil’ put in your drink, but you sure as hell couldn’t walk yourself out of here a few hours ago.”

Sam hated being told what he couldn’t do. Gritting his teeth against that dizzy, nauseous feeling that had stubbornly stuck with him, he opened his own door and got out. 

“You see your buddy’s car?”

Sam blinked into the rain, at the few cars still lining the road. “I don’t know. It wasn’t Benny’s car. It was his friend Chris’. Don’t really remember what it looked like.”

“Alright. Come on. We can go check inside. See who’s still around.”

Maybe it was stupid, but Sam’s brain refused to even consider that Benny would have left without him. They were roommates after all. Sure, it was a relationship of three whole months, but there had to be something sacred about a college roommate. Benny wouldn’t just abandon Sam at a party in the middle of god knows where.

Only, the house was distinctly void of anyone that Sam knew or recognised. Or really anyone at all. There was some blonde guy cleaning up, who looked very surprised to see them both coming in the front door, and it looked like maybe two or three people sleeping on the couch and other chairs.

“H-hey, Lu,” the guy said with a tight laugh, oddly very nervous as he grinned up at Luci. “Didn’t think you were coming back tonight. Not after that whole thing with you and Lilith and the yelling and the breaking of things...”

Luci ran a hand through his hair, glancing into the other room like he was deciding if he knew the people on the couch. “Is she gone?”

“Yeah. She took off a few hours back.” Grin still in place, the guy held up a rather full garbage bag. “So, did you return to help your favorite little brother clean up this mess?”

Luci raised an eyebrow and made no move to help with anything. “Hell no. Your party, your mess, Gabe. I’m just looking to give this kid back to the guys he came here with.”

“I’m not a kid,” Sam whispered in annoyance.

Luci didn’t seem to hear, or he just didn’t care.

The other guy, maybe the Gabriel who could be blamed for this party in the first place, was looking at Sam rather critically. “Who did you come here with? I’m usually good with faces, and I feel like I’d remember yours, but…”

“Benny.” Sam supplied. “We came up from Stanford.”

“Don’t know any Benny. Sorry.”

“His friend Chris invited us. His sisters’... boyfriend’s... something or other knows you.”

Gabriel shrugged. “That’s a little too vague for me. I know like four different Chriss, but none of ‘em from Stanford. Did you try calling your friends?”

“I left my phone back at the dorm,” Sam hated to lie, except every time he tried to explain that he didn’t have a phone people looked at him like he was some kind of space alien. That full ride scholarship came with a dorm room but no living expenses, and phones were expensive. He didn’t feel like explaining that tonight, especially not to someone standing in a house close enough to the beach that you could hear the waves over the rain falling on the roof. These people obviously had money and they wouldn’t understand Sam’s situation. 

“That sucks,” Gabriel sounded very almost sympathetic. “If you wanna crash here you can. A few people are. Maybe get a ride back down to Stanford in the morning.” 

“Nah,” Luci butted in before Sam could even start to decide if it was a good or bad idea staying in a stranger’s house when he still wasn’t even sure where the hell the house even was. “I’m headed back down that way tonight. I can just drop him off.”

Gabriel’s eyebrows crept up towards his mess of blonde hair. “Since when are you headed down that way?”

“Since I just said I was,” Luci took his car keys back out and nodded to Sam like a question. It was the same offer he’d given back in the Starbucks parking lot. He really was willing to take Sam all the way back to his dorm.

Problem was, Sam really didn’t like the idea of owing anyone a favor, especially not one that big―however, the alternative was somehow more awkward. 

“I can give you gas money,” he offered, making up his mind.

Sleeping in a place he didn’t know, surrounded by multiple strangers, was so much worse than a long car ride with a single stranger.

At least, he hoped so.

After a mad dash through the rain Sam was back in the passenger seat of the old pickup, shaking water from his hair and deliberately not looking at the man beside him.

“Thanks again.”

Luci shrugged and fumbled his key into the ignition. “It’s not a big deal. I was headed down that way.”

A sharp laugh caught in Sam’s throat and he leaned into the window to turn and look more clearly at the other man. “You know, I just met you and I don’t normally do this, but I’m goin’ out on a limb and calling you a liar on both accounts.”

The truck came to a sudden stop right there in the street, only feet from where they’d been parked. Luci turned with a very rigid spine to look across at Sam. “Hey now, I would have done the exact same thing if you were a girl and it was one of my male cousins trying to fuck you up. Or― _ fuck― _ just if it was anyone doin’ that to anyone else. I’m not tryin’ to be a nice guy here. I’m… I’m not a nice guy. You just needed help so I’m helping. And if I say it’s not a big deal it’s because to me it’s not a big deal. Ok?”

He then sat there looking at Sam, waiting for an answer.

Sam wasn’t an expert or anything, however he was fairly certain that most people came pre programmed to want reassurance and praise. Most people, but apparently not everyone. 

“Yeah,” Sam nodded slowly, “I guess it’s not a big deal.”

“Thank you,” Luci gave a satisfied nod and let the truck start rolling down the road again. He seemed to know the way, which was good considering Sam wouldn’t have made a terrible navigator right then. 

Once they hit the highway the hum of white noise started to become unbearable. Rain, windshield wipers, tires hugging the wet asphalt, it was the loudest quiet Sam had ever been lost in.

“There’s asprin in the glove box… if you need any.”

Startled, Sam jumped in his seat, looking over at Luci.

“Hangovers can be a real bitch, and you look like you’re still hurting,” the older man said in that soft rumbling way that he had. He reached over, popping open the glove box and catching it before it could smack into any unprotected knees. 

“Thanks,” Sam mumbled, patting around the collection of odds and ends until he found the small bottle that rattled at his touch. He dry swallowed two pills and rubbed the spot between his eyes. “So, Luci?”

“Yeah?” 

Sam pressed a thumb against his left eye until he saw fireworks. Even though he’d been given the basic cliff notes, he still had to ask what had happened. Not because he wanted to know, but because he hated having this huge blank space where tonight should have been. 

“How far… um… how far did things get before you…”

That quiet came back for nearly a mile before the older man shrugged one shoulder. “I broke it up before anyone got to third base, alright? Look, if you really can’t remember it’s probably for the best. This isn’t the kind of kinky story I like to tell.”

The dark was convenient to hide the heat creeping up Sam’s neck. It should have been comforting to know that his first time hadn’t been unconscious or unwilling. Instead he just felt sick to his stomach and debated if he needed the truck to pull over so he could throw up.

He chewed the inside of his lip, hands in fists against his sides as he folded his arms a little too tightly. 

“The kind of kinky stories I do like to tell?” Luci had a forced lightness to his voice. “I’ve got a brother who’s got this thing for Cyndi Lauper. You might be too young to know who that is―”

“She was big in the eighties,” Sam offered, confused at the sudden turn. “Did the song for The Goonies movie.”

“There you go,” with a flash of teeth, Luci continued, “she also wrote the music for this Broadway show called Kinky Boots. I took my brother for his birthday because I love him even though he likes musicals and keeps singing at me and it’s awful… and that’s my ‘kinky’ story.”

Sam sat there and watched the other man glance his way twice, this sort of expectant energy in the little flick of his eyes. He was surprisingly cute despite everything to the contrary. Adorable in an unexpected way―at least right in that odd moment of anticipation.

Headlights of a car in the north bound lane washed over them for the briefest moment and Sam faintly caught his own reflection in the windshield―and he looked so much worse than he expected. No wonder the other man was treating him so delicately.

It was distracting enough that Sam heard himself quietly admitting, “That’s either the best, or worst, kinnky story I’ve ever heard.”

“Well I do sort of strive for ambiguity, so I guess I’ll put that one in the win column.” Luci said mostly to himself, one finger rising from the steering wheel to make a check mark in the air.

The corners of Sam’s mouth tickled and he realised that a smile was trying to creep in despite how his body and mind felt. With a bit of force, he managed to unfold his arms and rolling his shoulders, he tried to relax.

“What kind of nickname is Luci?” He asked, searching for another distraction.

“A bad one that I like,” the other man said as easily as if he’d been sitting there with the answer on the tip of his tongue, just waiting for Sam to ask.

“Your brother called you Lu… so like, is it short for Louis or Luke?” Sam trailed off, not sure about the odd look he was being given.

The other man was sparing as much side eye as possible while still driving with some measure of safety. Finally he asked, “ _ Louis _ ? I do not look like a Louis.”

“Sorry?”

“It’s Lucifer.”

“ _ Lucifer _ ?” Sam cringed at the idea that anyone would burden their child with a name like that. “Then I’m  _ really  _ sorry.”

“Look, you’re having a bad night, so I won’t take those fighting words for what they are. Consider this the one time I let you make fun of my name without smacking that smile off your face.”

Sam put his hands up, biting his lip to hold back a grin. If only for a few moments he forgot half the trouble of tonight. To the universe this apparently was a challenge to make things worse.

A sudden  _ bang  _ sounded loud as a gunshot and Luci swore as tires protested and the whole truck went veering onto the shoulder of the road. Some traction was lost and they grazed the cement barrier twice before grounding to a stop.

There would be bruises across Sam’s chest come morning; one more thing to add to the list.

“Are you alright?”

Sam stared at the spiderweb cracks on the windshield.

“Are you alright?” The other man asked again, louder this time, one hand touching Sam’s shoulder then throat.

Turning to the driver’s side, Sam had to swallow twice before asking, “What the hell was that?”

“Pothole an’ we blew a tire.” His hand was shaking and he seemed to try and hide it by patting Sam’s cheek in an only slightly reassuring way. “You alright?”

“Yeah.”

“Didn’t hit your head?”

“No,” Sam shook his head, kind of confused why fingertips were still resting lightly against his cheek. “You don’t have air bags?”

“I don’t think they’d been invented yet when they built this truck.”

“When they built the truck, was that before or after they invented spare tires?”

It was very dark in the truck’s cab, nearly impossible to see the other man when he laughed and said, “You’re a bit of a smart ass when you’re sober, aren’t you?”

“Not entirely sure that I am sober,” Sam confessed. “I think I’m just a smartass all the time.”

“Oh god, me too,” Luci’s sank back into his seat, putting both hands to his own face and drawing a deeply unsteady breath. “The spare is already on the truck.”

Sam pressed a hand over his chest where the seat belt had dug in. “What?”

“I had a flat a few months back. I put the spare on and haven’t gotten around to getting a replacement.” He reached and turned on the hazard lights before taking the key out of the ignition. “You know, just one of those things I’ve been meaning to get around to.”

“Tow truck?”

He looked out at the rain and sighed in defeat. 

“Well, ok. Wanna’ hitchhike in the rain with me back to Stanford?”

In the red glow of a passing car’s tail lights Luci’s smile was wonderfully dry. “We’re in the middle of nowhere, ok? It’s just going to take forever for a tow truck to bring us a new tire.”

“At least we’re out of the rain,” Sam struggled to find something positive to counter with, “...and the company’s not awful.”

The older man pulled out a cell phone and shook his head, breath catching on a soft laugh. “That is a low standard I think I can meet.” 

Luci hit a speed dial on his phone, and though Sam didn’t know who he called, it almost definitely wasn’t a tow company. 

“Hey― yeah I know it’s late― No― I ― why do you just assume I’m in trouble?” He let his head fall back while he spoke, profile standing out sharply in the headlights of passing cars. “No. I’m not drunk either. It’s the truck. I was headed home and I got a flat―”

From where Sam was sitting he could hear laughter on the other end of the phone. 

“Wow. Thanks. Your sympathy is bringing me to tears over here.” Luci scratched at his jaw, tugged at his lip, little movements that bled out irritation. “Can you just bring me the goddamn tire and save the gloating for tomorrow? ― _ mmhm _ ― yeah― We’re on the 101 south― What?― It’s just some guy who caught a ride back with me― alright― love you too.” And he tossed his phone on to the dashboard before pressing his hands to his face and making a sound of frustration.

Sam adjusted his seatbelt, lightly rubbing the bruise he could feel underneath it. “Girlfriend?”

“Brother.”

“The one who’s got it bad for Cyndi Lauper?”

Luci nodded, hands still to his face. 

“Not for nothing, but couldn’t you have saved yourself all that by calling a tow?”

“Don’t have insurance.” He let his hands fall, sighing softly. “And he bought a spare tire for me a while back. I just never got around to putting it in the truck where it would be… you know… useful.”

What Sam felt for this man wasn’t quite sympathy. He’d never owned a car himself, but his big brother had been fairly aggressive about teaching Sam basic car-care, and he liked to think that one day when he actually owned a car it would always have a spare tire… and insurance.

Not everyone had the same sort of priorities though, so he’d try not to judge.

“Do you know about how long he’ll be?”

“Hour? He drives like someone’s grandma, especially in the rain, so maybe closer to two hours.”

Sam unlocked the seatbelt and sunk low on the bench seat, rolling his shoulders forward to try and stretch some of that tension out of his back. Two hours was a long time to just sit here in the rain, but it would still get him back to Stanford sooner than the other options. “Cool.”

“ _ Cool _ ,” Luci repeated. “God, I hate Halloween.”

“Yeah?” Sam straightened, turning in his seat to face the other man. “Story time?”

“Oh, this is going to sound so stupid,” he complained even as he turned half way to better face Sam, leaning back against the driver’s side door. “I’m telling you because you look pitiful, and I also feel I’ve got a good chance of you not remembering this tomorrow. So it started back when I was maybe ten-ish? Me and my brothers, we go trick-or-treating. We’re coming back home with these pillow cases full of candy, and not just any candy, we’d intentionally gone to the rich neighborhood so…”

“Full sized candy bars?” It was the legend that all children believed in, but Sam had never heard from anyone who’d had first hand experience.

“Full-fuckin’-sized candy bars. We were kings that night, Sammy. Kings. And then Gabe starts in. Tells us this story about this little kid called Tim, out in Texas in the 70s. This kid had gone trick-or-treating, got himself one of those giant pixy sticks, his favorite. He takes it home, talks his parents into one piece of candy before bed and,” Luci flicked his fingers in the air, “next thing you know the kid dies of poison.”

Sam rolled his eyes.

“Oh, it gets worse. Turns out it wasn’t some neighbor that did it. It was the kid’s own Dad. Apparently Pops had some serious debt going on and actually took out a life insurance policy on both his kids, only little Tim was the only one to eat the poison pixy sticks.”

“That didn’t happen.”

“See, worse part is, I looked it up when I got older, and legitimately, this is a true story. Which is actually awful, but my little brother made it worse. Over the course of that night he managed to convince us that not only was poisoned candy an actual thing we should worry about, but that he’d also heard our dad on the phone with the insurance company a few days before.” 

Sam snorted softly.

“So, the little gremlin talked us out of all our full sized candy  _ and  _ made us suspicious of our dad for a few weeks.”

“And that did it for you? No more Halloween?”

“It wasn’t just that,” He slouched, drawing one knee up to rest awkwardly against the steering wheel. “It became this game for Gabe. Every year trying to trick us out of or just outright steal out candy―and at some point it just got to be this irritation, if that makes sense. Like I couldn’t just enjoy the holiday, I had to be on my toes constantly. I just gave up on the whole thing when I was in High School.”

“You still came to the party tonight though.”

Lucifer’s smile was hard to see in the relative dark.

“I was just helping Gabe house sit, sort of supervising. I was supposed to head back home yesterday.”

“Is it… bad if I say I’m glad you didn’t?”

“I like to think if I hadn’t stepped in and hauled your underaged ass out of there than someone else would have.”

“I’m not underaged.”

“Really? Your ID says you are.”

A point that Sam couldn’t exactly argue with. “Well I’m pretty sure California state law says that you have to have car insurance...”

“Touché.” The other man raised both hands in surrender, chuckling. “I’m not entirely sure that this old truck can contain all the smart assery or dumbassery between the two of us.”

“Too much ass?”

With another laugh, Luci ran hands over his face. “Something like that.”

Tucking his legs up onto the seat, Sam settled in, they’d be here for a long while and he may as well get comfortable.

“So… I fuckin’ hate small talk. You go to Stanford. Studying?”

“Law.”

“Cute little thing like you?”

Sam didn’t know how to respond to that.

“Yeah. I think I can see it.” He assessed Sam with a rather critical frown. “I’ve never met a pre-law student that wasn’t baby faced and stupid. No offence.”

With a disbelieving laugh, Sam shook his head. “No. Why would I possibly be offended by that?”

Luci had a very sudden, very crooked sort of grin. “You’ll grow out of it. Hopefully.”

“I’ll grow out of being baby faced and stupid? Or out of being a cute little thing?” Because honestly Sam didn’t think that he was any of the above. “I’m pretty sure that we’re the same height.”

Meaning they were both giants.

“Yeah, maybe. But you’ve got that face. Look at you. You’re this floppy haired little puppy.”

“I like this tactic. Being all chivalrous and concerned and ‘saving’ me, and then laying in on the insults.”

“Hey, I’m an older brother at heart.” He shrugged like it was some kind of excuse. “When in doubt, harass. It eases the awkward when I don’t know what else to say.”

For whatever it was worth, harassment also seemed to be Dean’s favorite tactic, so maybe it was just how older brothers functioned. Something inherent in their nature. 

Sam tucked his arms around himself, glancing out at the sporadic traffic moving past them. Oddly, despite everything that had gone wrong tonight, this was the first time it felt awkward. “So…”

“So,” the other man agreed. 

“What do you do?” Sam embraced the awkward because he had no idea what else to do with it. 

“Work at an animal shelter and go to school.”

“To be a vet?”

“Engineer.”

Sam had no idea if that was a joke or not. He couldn’t really imagine this man with glasses, sitting behind a desk, drafting and cataloging and whatever it was that engineers did.

Luci laughed suddenly. “What’s that look for?”

Shrugging, Sam found a smile, “You just don’t look like an engineer all. But maybe you’ll grow out of it. Hopefully.”

And that seemed to work for them. Teasing and gentle insults. A neutral territory where they both felt comfortable. Gently harassing each other was so much easier than talking like normal people, at least in light of how well tonight was going for them. A much more relaxing way to fill the quiet, and a preferred alternative to typical small talk.

Sam learned that, along with his older and younger brothers, Luci also had a little sister who was still in highschool. He’d grown up in the bay area, but had been born out in Texas, and more importantly than all those other little facts, the man hated sour candy, and preferred reptiles over furry animals. 

“But you can’t pet a snake,” Sam argued.

“Yeah you can.”

“They don’t play fetch. They don’t snuggle.”

“Snakes give the  _ best _ hugs, so shut your face.”

“You know what? I think I’ll pass on the snake hugs if it’s all the same.” Even though the aching in his head was still this threatening sort of whisper, he found himself smiling. 

“You’re missing out, Sammy.”

“It’s still just Sam.”

“Come on. Sammy and Luci. Luci and Sammy. We’re like a buddy cop movie waiting to happen.”

“Except neither of us are cops?”

“Ok, so a lawyer and an engineer,” Luci played with his lower lips as he thought, “solving mysteries?”

Sam laughed softly, shaking his head. “I wouldn’t pay money to see this movie.”

“Lawyer and engineer... romantic comedy?”

The laugh melted as Sam felt a bit of heat creep into his cheeks. He didn’t necessarily need any sort of half reminder that he’d possibly kissed this man earlier tonight. Which was information that he not only didn’t want, but also didn’t know what to do with.

Had they been in the truck when it happened?

Sitting here like this and Sam had slid over the space between them, using his mouth to snuff out the other man’s crooked smile? 

Or had it been on the way to the truck?

Lucifer supporting most of Sam’s weight, and Sam leaning heavy against him, face buried in his throat, feeling the other man’s pulse against his mouth?

There was something very wrong with Sam’s head, and he scrubbed his hands over his eyes, taking a shaking breath before saying, “You know, I’m not really a rom-com kind of guy.”

“Me either, but the names work, Sammy. We rhyme,” he teased in that same way that they’d been going for the last half hour or so, no change in his tone―though his knee had rocked to the side to crash into Sam’s. A warm and not wholly unwelcome touch, all casual and easy like they were old friends. 

Sam sort of hated how much it didn’t bother him. Not that he had anything against the idea of men being friends and comfortable enough with each other that they could touch. But, Sam had never kissed any of his guy friends and that made this here different on a very basic and fundamental level. 

“Sorry,” Luci hummed softly, “but rhyming names mean it’s pretty much destiny.”

“Don’t really believe in destiny.”

“No?” The man laughed. Sinking back into the driver’s side door, mimicking Sam’s posture, at least in a way that seemed accidental. “Me either.”

Sam had some small doubts. Lucifer struck him as the type of person who not only put some faith in destiny, but possibly also watched and enjoyed romantic comedies. 

“Also, Samuel and Lucifer do not rhyme.”

“Then we get a cute couple’s name like Brangelina did,” he waved it off like it was only the smallest hiccup in this plan and it only helped to confirm Sam’s suspicions about Luci’s taste in movies. 

“Yeah?” Sam thought he liked it better when he was fully hungover and feeling awful, at least that full bodied experience had made sense to him. This here was far more confusing. “So we get a cute couple’s name, like…?” 

“Sassifer?” 

Sam snorted softly.

“How about  _ Lamuel _ ,” Luci suggested with something too close to a giggle.

“How about  _ no _ .”

Lucifer outright laughed then, leaning forward far enough to smack his knuckles against Sam’s nearest knee. “You’re not going to let me have any fun, are you?”

It felt good to laugh, even if the back of Lucifer’s hand had stayed lightly resting against him. “Fun? On Halloween? This is not the sort of night for things like  _ fun _ . Who has fun on Halloween?” 

“Obviously not us.”

“Obviously.” 

The older man smiled, his eyes twin crescent moons in the dark of the car. With one finger crooked, lightly playing with the frayed edges of the hole in the knee of Sam’s jeans, Luci looked out at the road. “I was thinkin’ about that gas money you owe me.”

“Yeah?” Sam watched the man’s thumb starting to skirt the tattered denim. 

“Can I trade the cash for dinner?”

“I don’t have any money on me,” Sam confessed, “so I can’t really buy you anything. But I’ve got some cash in my dorm room, you can always spend it on food instead of gas if you want?”

“No,” the guy made a noise almost like a laugh, still watching the road instead of Sam. “No, um, I mean… I live in the Stanford-ish area. Maybe dinner sometime next week or whatever.”

Sam had had worse offers tonight. 

Worse, but possibly similar.

“Like a  _ ‘thanks for helping me out, friend _ ’ sort of dinner? Or a ‘ _ you don’t kiss like you’re straight’ _ sort of dinner, even though I already explained to you that I definitely am?”

Lucifer put both his hands up in the air, leaning back and away from Sam. “Don’t flatter your cute little self. You’re just skinny as hell and―holy fuckin’ high beams,” he hissed, knocking the rearview mirror sideways as a car behind them flashed its floodlights and near blinded them both. 

The truck was pulled to the shoulder of the highway, which meant that the car behind them repeatedly flickering their brights had to be pulled over as well.

“That’s got to be my brother,” Luci was still talking through his teeth as he waved with one finger at the car behind them. “I’ll be back.”

“I can help you change the tire,” Sam offered as the driver’s side door opened. 

“There’s no sense in us both gettin’ wet,” was all that the man said before hopping out into the dark, slamming the door behind him.

Mercifully, those high beams turned off, and Sam sat sideways on his seat to watch Luci changing the truck’s tire with help from the driver of the car behind them. It was too dark out there to see much of anything, and it wasn’t long before Sam grew tired of squinting into the rain storm, trying to figure out which of the half drowned figures was Luci and which was his brother. 

Sam sank into the seat, doing what he could to relax with the whooshing sounds of traffic and the occasional rocking of the truck as work was done without the need of his help. He hated it. Hated feeling useless. Hated not being needed. 

But mostly he hated how easy it was to lose track of time tonight. 

He’d only closed his eyes for a moment, listening to the rain and traffic and distant teasing voices, and then he was looking out at the stadium parking on campus with no memory of how or when he got here. 

The pale light of dawn was eating away at the storm, cracks showing in the heavy clouds. 

Stiffly, Sam sat up, rolling the shoulder that he’d been resting against, frowning at the jacket that slid down onto his lap. He was cold without it tucked up around his shoulders, but at the same time, it wasn’t his jacket. He looked around himself and jumped only a little when he saw Lucifer slumped peacefully against the driver’s door, one arm up on the headrest of the seats, and a little wet spot on his shoulder where Sam’s cheek had been only moments before.

“H-hey,” Sam gently poked at the other man, whispering like he was afraid he might wake him. 

Lucifer’s nose wrinkled a little, but he looked well and truly unconscious.

“Hey?” Sam raised his voice, reaching out to lightly poke the man’s arm. When that hesitant touch got no response he tapped his shoulder, and then feeling frustrated as the man beside him kept on stubbornly sleeping, he tapped Luci’s cheek. “Hey. Lu. Wake up.”

The blonde turned his face into Sam’s hand, warm breath ghosting over his wrist. The little movement practically a nuzzle, complete with a soft sigh. Not even opening his eyes, Lucifer pressed the lightest kiss into the palm of Sam’s hand, and mortified, Sam sat there in stunned silence.

“M’awake,” the words hardly more than a singular sleepy sound.

“You’re not,” Sam argued with a horrified sort of laugh. 

One very blue eye opened to look up at him, and then Luci was echoing Sam’s truly uncomfortable sounds as he pulled away, scrambling to sit upright. 

Pressing his palms together, Sam retreated to his side of the bench seat. Smiling through a tight, “Good morning.”

“Morning,” came the hesitant reply.

“So we made it back?”

“Looks like it.”

“Thanks.”

Lucifer ran his hands over his face, groaning a frustrated noise under the words, “Yeah. You’re welcome and whatever.”

Taking the jacket from his lap, Sam gently laid it on the seat between them. “I… I can walk the rest of the way from here.”

“What?” Lucifer blinked out at the empty parking garage, frowning like he hadn’t expected to see it there. “No. I got you this far, I can take you the rest of the way. I just didn’t know what dorm you lived in or if it was even on campus, and I didn’t want to wake you, and just―” he aggressively waved his own words away, shaking his head and fumbling at the keys dangling from the ignition. 

Sam leaned into the burst of air that came through the vents as the engine rumbled to life. It was cold without the jacket tucked over him but he didn’t feel right wearing it. So he hugged himself and mumbed a soft, “Sorry for sleeping on you.”

“Oh, shut up,” Luci grumbled with no anger behind the demand. “Sorry is worse than the thank yous. Save ‘em for when you’ve done something I don’t like. Now how do I get to your dorm?”

  
  



	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's late out here, and I was going to post this tomorrow or the day after, but someone out there is rereading my old stories and making me remember the less than awesome older stories that I've written that had no glorious human to clean up all my dyslexic typos.   
So here's something new, something clean and nice that we can enjoy together.  
Brotherly sass  
I love writing brotherly sass

“Someone didn’t make it home last night.”

Lucifer froze halfway through the door, eyes darting through the house before settling on his brother. 

“I was starting to worry, Lu.” Michael sat at the table, text book and coffee laid out. The jerk wasn’t even looking up, comfortably settled into his usual morning routine. A routine that almost never had them crossing paths.

For good reasons.

Neither of them were morning people.

But today that usual groggy grumpiness was gone from Lucifer’s mind, and once the shock of being caught was shaken off he took a sharp breath and smiled. “Yeah well, more important things to do than coming straight home.”

“You go back to check on Gabe?”

“Gabe can take care of himself,” Lucifer said even though there was some strong doubt at their younger brother’s capabilities. 

Michael finally looked up, smiling hesitantly while he watched Lucifer kicking off his shoes. “And you look like you’re in a good mood for once.”

“I, uh…” shrugging out of his rain wet jacket, Lucifer chuckled softly under his breath and shrugged. “Yeah. I guess I am.”

And like a girl settling in for all the gossip, Mike picked up his coffee cup, turned in his seat to face Lucifer and crossed one leg over the other. “ _ And _ ?”

“And I’m going to get a shower and change into something dry and warm.”

“Hey, no. Tell me about the girl you took home last night,” Michael actually got up from his seat, following Lucifer down the hall.

“It was a  _ guy _ .”

“Oh,” Michael’s enthusiasm instantly tanked, disappointed and obviously not understanding. “So, what happened  _ after  _ that?”

“Then I came home and you started asking me stupid questions,” Lucifer grumbled, ducking into his room and grabbing clean jeans and a sweatshirt. The space between his room and the shower was however blocked by his dumb big brother and his dumb broad shoulders. “Come on. I slept in wet clothes. I’m all clammy and gross. Move.”

Though he stepped to one side Michael did not go back to the table. The man always had to know everything. “Go on then. Shower―just keep talking. You’re never in a good mood and I want details.”

Lucifer brushed past his brother and into the bath, leaving the door open just a crack. He could have simply tried to ignore Mike, wait it out until the guy had to go to work, except the want to tell someone about last night had him buzzing.

The two of them had been inseparable when they were kids, on through most of highschool. It didn’t mean that he and Michael had always gotten along, or that they always told each other everything. 

But some things were too good not to share.

“The guy I drove home last night,” he turned on the shower, dipping his fingers under the stream of water and waiting for it to warm, “I scraped Lilith off him at the party, and she’d got him drunk off his ass―you know what she does―and I knew if I left him at the party I’d be stuck watching him all night making sure he was ok, so I offered him a ride home, and he told me thank you... with a kiss... and we sort of have a date for next week.”

He’d dropped Sam off at the front of the dorms less than an hour ago, writing his phone number on the guy’s wrist with a pen he’d scrambled to find in the glove box. Sam had promised lunch, lingering too long half out of the truck, all awkward smiles.

Leaving Lucifer to think about that dimpled, self conscious grin the whole way home. 

Michael’s voice came clear and sharp through the cracked door, “And for clarity this is a  _ guy _ you’re talking about, right?”

“Yeah.” Lucifer felt his shoulders come up defensively and he dunked his head under the spray of water, relaxing into the pleasant warmth after a night in cold wet clothes.

“But, Lu… you’re straight.”

And that was one of those things that fell into the realm of things that they didn’t always talk about, but maybe they should have.

Through the opaque shower curtain he could see the bathroom door open a little wider, his brother repeating in a questioning tone, “Lu?”

“Only sort of,” Lucifer admitted awkwardly, if only to keep Michael from coming further into the room. 

“Liking guys or girls is either a yes or no, not a ‘ _ sort of _ ’ thing.”

“Then yes. Both.”

“ _ Both _ ?”

“Well, it’s definitely more of an eighty percent one way and a twenty the other. But yeah.” He scrubbed shampoo through his hair, spitting water as he spoke, “It’s harder than you’d think to grow up with a brother like you and not at some point get a little curious.”

“You probably meant that to sound less weird.”

“I just mean we shared a room, a room that you brought your boyfriends into. A lot of highschool was me waking up in the morning and noticing you had a very good looking and very naked guy on your side of the room.” And those had been good years in Lucifer’s opinion. 

“I remember you mostly complaining about my boyfriends.”

Lucifer grinned to himself but didn’t deny anything. 

“So… this going to be your first date with a guy?” Apparently Michael wasn’t going to be satisfied with a simple explanation.

“Don’t you have to go to work or something?” He asked instead of answering, not wanting to have to own up to just how many other guys there had been. 

His brother grumbled but finally left, closing the bathroom door behind him, leaving Lucifer to enjoy his hot shower.

A day later and he was wishing that he’d never mentioned anything about it to Michael.

Because Michael was nosey and didn’t like being told ‘no’ when he asked if Lucifer had heard back from his man-crush yet. 

Thankfully, after a week of being told no, his brother finally stopped asking―which was a nice change because Lucifer had fully expected Michael to give him a hard time about the fact that Sam never called.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My nyquil soggy brain tried writing an explanation for why me from a few months back thought it a very good idea that Sam and Michael date for a bit, because I love the idea of Michael ending up being the biggest Samifer shipper and going from boyfriend to best friend and all sorts of awful and confusing along the way. but it came out muddles here in the notes, and this probably is too... so I'm headed back to bed to hopefully sleep off this amazing flu   
yeah  
* thumbs up

“Sam?” The tired looking nursing student read his name off her clipboard.

“Here,” Sam raised a hand, rather unnecessarily seeing as the waiting room wasn’t exactly full to bursting. He was one of the three unhappy looking individuals sitting in the school’s clinic, and the only guy, it sort of made it easy to stand out. 

“Come on back with me,” she gave him a thin lipped smile, her heart obviously not into this holiday weekend shift, but she held the door open for him all the same.

“I... “ Sam looked down at himself and shrugged. “Yeah. Ok. Give me a sec,” he apologised as he tightly gripped the arms of his chair and tried to use it as leverage to stand while still managing to keep the weight off his left leg. 

The nurse frowned, glanced at her clipboard again, and her eyes went wide. “You’re the one with the hurt ankle. I’m so sorry.”

“N-no, it’s ok.”

She took a couple steps forward, her arms out to help steady him, and she hesitated. Apparently once Sam was standing at full height she lost the confidence to help him. 

“Oh! Um… wait right there. I’m going to go grab someone else,” she hurried back through the door she’d come through.

Sam hated it. Hated that the other two girls in the waiting room were now looking up from their phones to also notice how tall and awkward he was. He hated that they seemed to be together, but the person who’d walked him in here from the football field had been a stranger and gone back out to finish the game. He hated that neither he or his family had the money to buy him a plane ticket back home for Thanksgiving, and he’d been left here alone in the ghost town of a campus by himself.

Thankfully he was only left to sway painfully for less than a minute before the door was swinging open again and a different nurse came out. A male nurse with a friendly smile and broad shoulders that took Sam’s weight easily.

“Sorry,” Sam mumbled as he used the other man for a crutch.

“Don’t worry about it,” the guy grinned. “I’m just sorry we don’t have a wheelchair or something for you.”

“It’s not  _ that  _ bad,” he rolled his eyes, thinking how embarrassed he would have been to have needed to be wheeled into the exam room. 

“Well, let’s get you settled in and get an official diagnosis first, ok?”

Oh, Sam hated ever part of this.

The nurse helped him hop up onto the paper covered exam table, smiling again. “I’m Michael, Lori passed your file off to me, so I’ll be taking your vitals and patient history before the doctor comes in to check out that leg of yours.”

“Great.”

And if he sounded a bit clipped, Michael didn’t seem to take offence. The guy just pulled over a rolling cart with a computer on it and started typing away. “So, what brings you in today?”

It had to be some sort of protocol that dictated that Sam needed to not only tell the gal at the front desk that he’d twisted his ankle while getting tackled, but needed to alsoput the incident down on the paper they’d given him to fill out, and once more so they guy here could type it up. There had to be a better system than tormenting injured people through pointless repetition. 

“Just thought I’d take a break from studying, you know, come hang out in the clinic for a while.”

“Nice call, we have the best vending machines on campus out here.”

“Yeah?”

“Definitely. It’s the only one that has peanut M&Ms,” he glanced down at his clipboard, “and I see you didn’t list any nut allergies, so, if you’re a good patient I might buy you some when this is all over.”

An unwilling smile tugged at Sam, and a satisfied look came over Michael, like he’d won something. 

It was an unnecessarily good look on him, and all at once Sam found himself noticing the fact that his nurse had a great smile and very warm brown eyes―all things that made a sudden and unwanted feeling curl in Sam’s stomach and he looked down at his knees and the smears of mud on his sweatpants, in need of any sort of distraction.

It really was the worst thing. 

Ever since Halloween he’d been plagued with the idea that he might have done something really stupid with the nice blonde man who’d driven him home. The guy had seemed fairly certain that Sam had kissed him, and that was an idea that had lead to some badly timed soul searching that didn’t mix well with Sam’s midterms. 

He’d spent years trying to focus on school and ignore girls only to find himself overwhelmed with a need to analyse every girl he met ―trying to guess if they had been the one to offer him a ride when he’d been drunk off his ass, would he have made a move on her too. 

A thought process that not surprisingly lead him to ask the same question about at least half the guys Sam came across. They were all hypothetical day dreams and he didn’t put much weight in them. Instead what mattered a lot more to Sam was that he was willing to admit to himself that quite a number of guys here at school were more than slightly attractive.

Michael absolutely fell into that category. 

And Sam slightly hated him for it. 

Swinging his not injured leg, Sam told him the same thing that he’d told the gal at the front desk. “I was playing football and got tackled.”

“Do you feel like you might need to go to a hospital?”

Sam looked up. “No?”

“How bad would you say your pain is?”

“About halfway between a stubbed toe and a broken arm?”

Michael laughed and glanced up from his computer. “I’ll put you down as a six out of ten.”

Sam nodded, smiling back before catching himself, and refocused on his knees. 

The man went back to his work, slowly running through all the things that Sam had written down about fifteen minutes ago. Once that was over and the computer pushed aside the medical instruments came out. 

“Just need to get your blood pressure and temperature, I won’t make you stand back up to get your height and weight.”

“Thanks,” Sam really did appreciate the little nicety. 

About the time that they were establishing that his heart rate was ever so slightly elevated, the doctor came in. Her last name was Herrara and she had a very gentle touch as she checked him over and let him know what he already knew.

The ankle was sprained. 

“Not much to do for it other than wrap it, ice it, and keep off it as much as you can for the next two weeks,” she told him with a sympathetic nod. “Michael can take care of wrapping it for you, show you how to take care of it, and I’ll go put in a prescription for some over the counter pain meds. Basically just extra strength Advil, but they should make you a little more comfortable.”

“Thank you,” and Sam really meant it. This wasn’t nearly as bad as a broken bone but the pain was miserable all the same. A pain that was only made significantly worse as Michael came back in with a roll of Ace Bandages. 

Sam was already sat back on the table, his pant leg rolled up to the knee to show off the truly magnificent bruising he’d developed. 

Michael sat himself down on the little doctor’s chair with wheels and pushed himself over to Sam’s side. “So, this is going to hurt, but I promise I’ll be quick about it. Alright?”

“Go for it,” Sam said with confidence he didn’t feel, and found himself gritting his teeth as the man started to carefully wrap his ankle. 

“So,” Michael said like a logical jump in the conversation they weren’t having. “I noticed that you hadn’t marked yes or no on the section of your form about us contacting you during our next blood drive.” 

“I thought that part was optional.”

“It is. It is,” he promised before asking, “but would you? I mean, hate to annoy you asking for handouts, but they like us to ask everyone who comes through.”

“Sure,” Sam said tightly.

“Great,” the man gently lifted Sam’s leg a little higher to pass the roll of bandages underneath. “It does come with a bit more of an invasive set of medical history questions.”

“Alright?”

“Like, when was the last time you traveled out of the country?”

“Never.”

“Drugs?”

“Nope,” Sam smiled and closed his eyes. “I’m pretty boring.”

“Are you sexually active?”

There was a very small bit of hesitation as Sam tried to figure out why that was relevant, only to remember his health classes from high school and the long list of transmittable diseases that he’d had to memorise. “No.”

“When was the last time you―”

“I’m going to just stop that section of questions by saying that I… I don’t.”

“You...  _ don’t _ ?”

“I mean, I haven’t.”

“Oh.”

Heat was rushing up Sam’s neck and he opened his eyes so he could frown at the other man. 

And it must have been some look because Michael shrank back with a sheepish smile. “I didn’t mean anything by it. I was just a little surprised. Most guys lie about that part.”

“Yeah, well I told you I was boring.”

“You know, dude-bro guys lying about how much sex they’re having isn’t actually all that interesting, so I’d say you’re doin’ alright.” He finished his job and sat back, the wheels on his chair squeaking slightly. “And you’re good to go.”

“Thanks.” Sam carefully swung his legs down, but didn’t stand as he realised that his problem still wasn’t even close to being fixed. 

“Where you headed?”

“Back to the dorms. I’m in Roble Hall.”

“That’s a bit of a walk.”

“Yeah,” Sam frowned, wishing for probably the millionth time that he had a cell phone, not that it would do him any good right now, seeing as anyone he knew who could give him a ride was gone for the holiday. “Is there any way to borrow a pair of crutches?” 

“Yes, but I’ll also do you one better,” Michael stood, “I can walk you back, make sure you don’t twist the other ankle too.”

Sam frowned.

“I was finished with my shift five minutes ago,” Michael offered out an arm. “Besides, I’m headed that way.”

Even if Sam wasn’t used to accepting help, he wasn’t really in a good position to say no. So he took Michael’s arm and eased himself down from the exam table. 

Prescription and crutches were collected, and even though he was off the clock, Michael didn’t seem to be able to turn off his med student nature because he fussed far too much over Sam as they started to walk. 

“You know, it’s not the first time I’ve sprained my ankle,” he hobbled along at an easy pace. “I know how to use a pair of crutches.”

“I read the medical history,” Michael said, wearing that smile of his, so charming and friendly. “But those crutches are one size fits all, and even after I put them on the tallest setting they’re too short for you and it’s stressing me out watching you walk funny.”

“You can just let me go the rest of the way on my own. It’s slow, but I’ve got it,” Sam huffed softly and kept moving forward. “Besides, I’m sure you’ve got better things to do today.”

“I really don’t though. I’m boring like you,” Micheal confessed with a laugh. “And, if I left now I’d never get up the courage to ask you out.”

Sam nearly missed a step, which left him stumbling rather dangerously. Before he could even consider falling on his face for the second time today though, Michael was catching his shoulders, standing in front of him and looking up with wide, worried eyes. 

“See,” Michael had a tight laugh, “one guy asks another one out and it’s a high chance someone is getting hurt.”

“I-I’m ok,” Sam promised unsteadily, feeling himself blush again as Michael hesitantly let go of his shoulders and stepped back. 

“You want me to let you walk the rest of the way on your own?”

Sam looked around and oddly found no help in the empty campus around them. With choking levels of nervousness he slowly nodded. “I don’t mind the company.”

It was an answer and still wasn’t, but it made Michael smile a funny little smile that he kept as they went back to walking in a newly awkward quiet.

Going against all his natural instincts, Sam started talking. “So, no fun Thanksgiving plans?”

“We did ours a few days ago, since my whole family decided we could all work over the holiday and get double pay.”

“Smart.”

“It pays the bills,” Michael nodded along. “How about you?”

“Home is on the other side of the country. Figured I’d save on airfare and just visit during the Christmas break.”

“So… you’re saying you’re free for dinner tonight?”

Sam didn’t trip again, thankfully, but he was stunned into some incredibly self-conscious stammering.

“The trick here is only ever ask out the really cute injured guys,” Michal started to explain. “Because ‘yes’ or ‘no’, I still get to talk with the really cute guy―and if he accidnely turns out to be some homophobic douche bag there’s a high chance I can outrun them if needed.”

Sam smiled in spite of himself. “I promise you won’t need to try and outrun me.”

“That’s good to hear.”

“I’ve... I’ve never gone out with a guy before.”

Michael laughed and it was almost a relief to hear the nervousness in his tone. “It’s pretty much the same as going out with a girl.”

He never thought he’d be so grateful to have no one on campus. It meant that there wasn’t anyone around to hear him mumble, “Never really done that either.”

“Oh,” Michael said almost like a question before slowly asking, “asexual or really religious?”

“I don’t think so?”

Michael laughed again. 

“I mean,” Sam hated this conversation, “I spent my free time back in high school studying instead of dating.”

“All that studying seems to have paid off. You got yourself into Stanford.”

“I did.”

“And with all that studying do you get some time off for good behaviour?”

Sam really wished that he’d spent more time listening to all the unsolicited advice on flirting that his big brother had tried to give him over the years. He also wished that he wasn’t so over focused on not falling on his face that he’d have been able to come up with something cool to say to the hot guy walking next to him. 

All he managed was a lame sounding, “You talkin’ about time off today? Maybe around dinner?”

“Well, that would be ideal,” Michael chuckled. “I’ve got some leftovers from my Thanksgiving if you’re interested?”

He wasn’t sure if ‘interested’ was the right word, but he was definitely hungry, and Michael was unfairly good looking, and those were both very good reasons in Sam’s mind to say yes.

So he did.

And about two hours later he was letting Michael into his dorm and helping to set out the collection of Tupperware containers for a very good smelling and thankfully not romantic meal. 

“You know,” Michael was looking around the little apartment space. “I’ve lived out near the college my whole life and I’ve never been into one of the dorms. It’s sort of…”

“Small?”

“I was going to go with cute, but sure, it’s small too.”

“It’s just me and my roommate Benny,” Sam explained as he passed plates over to Michael, who was far more capable of carrying them to the table. “We don’t need all that much space.”

“Is your roommate around?”

“No, out visiting his folks.”

“So you’re saying it’s just the two of us here?”

“Yes?”

Michael looked over his shoulder with a hint of a smile.

Instantly Sam was blushing again. Even if this dinner date thing was new to him, he’d seen plenty of movies and he knew what people alone got up to. 

“Sorry,” Michael raised his hands and put on a very innocent expression. “I’m teasing.”

“You better be,” Sam lifted his crutch and gave it a slightly menacing shake, “because you’d have to be a real idiot to give me a weapon and then try something funny.”

“Funny? What funny? I’ll have you know that I am the least funny person you will ever meet.”

“Yeah?”

“My brothers seem to think so,” Michael grinned and pulled out a chair for Sam before sitting down. 

It was nice to have something in common, and for most of the meal they complained about how weird, and irresponsible, and difficult, and wonderful their brothers were. It was a familiar topic that put Sam at ease. If given the opportunity he could easily talk about his brother all day, seeing as Dean was his best friend as well as possibly the most obnoxious person he’d ever met.

He nudged his empty plate away and sank low in his chair, noticing that Michael seemed to have finished a while back and was resting his chin against a fist and just smiling softly. 

“Sorry,” Sam shied away. “I’ve been rambling, haven’t I?”

“Don’t apologise,” Michael flashed a brief and toothy grin. “I love listening to people talk about things that make them happy. You smile a lot when you talk about your brother.”

“Do I?”

“You do,” Michael nodded and slowly leaned back in his chair. “And I don’t know if anyone’s ever told you, but you’re kind of devastating when you smile.”

“Is devastating good or bad?”

Michael bit his lip and chuckled breathily. “Good for you, bad for me?”

“Sorry.”

“Don’t be. I’m so happy I agreed to work today, I’m just having to remind myself that this is a first- _ first  _ date for you so I’ve really got to mind those boundaries.” 

“First date boundaries?” Sam had no idea exactly what those were.

“Mostly me just not doing anything dumb enough to ruin any chance of a second date.”

Right then would have been another great moment for someone else to step in and help Sam out. Michael was a little too charming for his own good and Sam had no idea what to do about it. “Well, um, so far I’d say chances are looking good.”

Michael grinned, the littlest bit of red coloring his cheeks before he got up from the table. “Go ahead and put your leg up. I’m going to do some dishes.”

“You don’t have to,” Sam started to stand, keeping his balance by holding the back of a chair. “I can help.”

“Can is different than  _ should _ , and that sprained ankle needs to be elevated and iced.” Michael moved through the little kitchen like he’d been here a million times, opening the freezer and rummaging around. “Go on.”

Sam sighed and did what the doctor ordered, hobbling to the couch and easing himself down. Michael joined him with a ziplock bag of ice, helping to get Sam settled with his bad leg up on the couch.

“You know, if I didn’t know any better, I’d almost say that you like taking care of people.”

Michael sat on the floor and rested an elbow on the couch beside Sam’s bad leg, lightly fussing over the bandages. “Occupational hazard unfortunately.”

“So…” Sam decided it was a little too difficult to look at this man’s near perfect profile, and instead focused on the sports posters that Benny had hung on their walls. “After dinner comes a movie, right?”

“There’s no rules, but yeah, usually. Or we can just sit around and talk if it’s not too late.” Michael pulled out his phone and glanced at it like he was checking the time. From where Sam sat he could see the screen and that there were three new texts from ‘the tall brother’. “Sorry, one sec,” Michael frowned and flicked through his messages before sighing painfully and pinching the bridge of his nose. “We  _ could  _ sit and talk if my brother hadn’t locked himself out of the house again. I’d say he could just sit out there, but apparently he’s got a box of kittens that need to be bottle fed, because why wouldn’t he, and I-I’ll tell you all about it next time. Ok? Sorry.”

“It’s alright,” Sam would be lying if he said he wasn’t disappointed, but he’d also been reading the profanity laced texts about kittens over Michael’s shoulder and knew that the man needed to go. 

Michael stood and hesitated. “Can I give you a kiss goodnight? Or is that pushing it too far for a first date with you?”

Sam wanted to hide under the couch, but a kiss wouldn’t necessarily be a bad second option. “I mean… I can’t really walk you to the door to do it properly, but if you don’t mind doing it here…”

“God, you’re adorable,” Michael looked happy and pained at the same time, sitting on the edge of the couch. 

The fact that Sam was about to kiss a man that he’d only met a few hours ago, didn’t give him nearly as much hesitation as he’d thought it would. The fact that Michael treated it like it wasn’t even any kind of big deal probably helped with that. The other man leaning in and pressing his lips softly to Sam’s before pulling back. 

“That was it?”

Michael grinned and leaned into Sam again, accepting the challenge, closing his eyes this time and offering a much slower kiss. 

And this was something that Sam liked to think he hadn’t been building up in his head for years, or even for the past month, but it made his toes curl and his chest tight. 

He was only a little breathless when Michael pulled back, and Sam really hoped that the other man didn’t notice.

“Better?” Michael asked quietly. 

“Yeah. I guess,” and what Sam meant was that he had no idea why he’d been putting this off for so long because it was actually awesome. “I might need one more, just to be sure.”

Micheal laughed, shaking his head before stealing one more, very short, very teasing kiss. “I can already tell you’re going to be trouble.”

Sam put a hand over his chest. “Me?”

Laughing again, Michael ran a hand through his hair. “Yeah, you. Let me get your number real quick. I might be free tomorrow if you are, but I’ve got to check with my brother to see if he needs help with this orphan kitten situation he’s got.”

“I… don’t have a phone.”

“Did you lose it?” Michael looked sympathetic.

His embarrassment at his phone situation struggled with the butterflies in the stomach feeling that Sam had in relation to how Michael was still balanced on the edge of the couch with their hips touching. 

“No. I just can’t afford a phone.”

That look of sympathy deepened to something that threatened to cripple Sam. 

He stumbled over his words in a way he didn’t usually when he had to explain why he was technologically deficient. “It’s whatever, really. Not a big deal. All my money right now is going to school stuff and food, but I’m waiting to hear back about a part time job at the library, so there might be a phone in my near future.”

Though it looked like there was a bit of a struggle behind it, Michael smiled. “Alright. I can work with that… um, so in the meantime we can just make plans in advance. How about Tuesday night?”

“I’ve got classes on Tuesday nights, but I’ve got my Wednesday afternoons free?” Sam offered quickly when he saw the other man’s smile falter.

For the first time since they’d met a few hours back, Michael looked uncertain. “Just if you’re free. I don’t want to take you away from your studying.”

“I wouldn’t say I had free time if I didn’t have free time,” which Sam followed with possibly the third bravest thing he’d done in his whole life―reaching out and lightly tapping his knuckles against Michael’s.

A small touch that was very likely real flirting. 

Dean would have been proud.

Michael just seemed happy. “Wednesday afternoon for lunch then. Meet me at the clinic about two?”

Just like that, Sam had a second date.

\------

Michael was easy to spot, sitting on one of the benches outside the clinic all by his lonesome wearing his scrubs and looking unfairly handsome. 

“Hey,” Sam lightly poked at one of the man’s feet with the end of his crutch. 

“Hey yourself,” instantly one of those winning smilies bloomed over Michael as he stood. “Can I give you a kiss hello?”

Apparently the answer was clear enough on Sam’s face that he didn’t have to push past the stammer of words. 

With a soft laugh, Michael waved away his own suggestion and started walking towards the student union. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to embarrass you.”

“It-it’s ok. Think I’m starting to get used to it.” A man could only be embarrassed for so long before it started to feel more natural than anything else. 

They moved slowly, Michael keeping pace with Sam’s determined hobble towards lunch. 

“How’d the box of kittens work out?”

“I’m currently the proud uncle of three foster kittens who need to eat every two hours and I’m not sure if I’ve ever been this tired.”

“So your brother talked you into helping?”

“He can talk anyone into anything,” Michael grinned, catching the door for Sam and holding it wide. “I swear, we’re just lucky that he chooses to use his powers for good or we’d all be screwed.”

“Good thing he just uses it for kittens?”

“Not going to lie, he didn’t have to work too hard to convince me.” 

As they waited in line to order some questionable Thai food, Michael pulled out a cell phone. Sam expected to be shown pictures of new kittens, but instead was handed the phone and hesitating he took it from the other man. 

“I… um?”

Michael looked at his shoes, shoving hands into his pockets. “It’s for you. It’s just my old phone, the screen is cracked and it doesn’t really hold a good charge, but I loaded it with a couple prepaid cards so you’ll be able to have something until you get that library job.”

Sam shook his head and tried to hand the phone back. “Thanks, but I can’t―”

“Please? It’s an old phone, they were cards I’d had from like a year ago, you’re really just helping me clean out one of the drawers at home.” 

He’d never been all that good at accepting help. It was a problem that all Winchester men had. “Well, I mean… if it’s a favor for you. You’re welcome?”

Finally looking back up, Michael grinned and very lightly knocked his shoulder into Sam’s. “Thank you. I appreciate your help.”

They had lunch together, lots of joking around and talking about nothing important and never once was Sam brave enough to ask if they were dating now. He just figured that if he had to ask then the answer was probably no, which obviously ensured that not asking made it so that they were dating―something that he wished he could call his brother and tell him about. 

Sam walked Michael back to the clinic once they finished their lunch, the dark haired man easily keeping pace with him. 

“So, I was wondering,” Micahel hesitated at the sliding doors, shoving his hands back into his pockets, “if maybe you had time this weekend we could watch a movie?”

Somehow seeing the other man acting as awkward as Sam felt did a little something to ease that tight anxious clutching in his stomach. “I don’t really have money for a movie.”

Michael rolled his eyes. “I’m asking you out, that sort of meant I was planning to pay.”

“Does that mean I’m the girl in this?”

A startled bark of laughter came out of Michael. “No. No that’s not what that means. God. No. I just wanted to see a movie. Paying for things isn’t a male or female thing.”

The words were comforting, but they didn’t set right with Sam.

“Come on. Two guys going on a date is just two guys. You don’t look at a pair of chopsticks and ask which one is the fork and which is the spoon.”

Sam laughed and shook his head.

“How about, once you get that library job you can pay for a movie,” Michael offered, so diplomatic, and it was obvious that he had brothers. “We’ll take turns?”

Slowly, Sam nodded, smiling in spite of the awkwardness. “I like taking turns.”

“How can anyone be this cute?” Michael asked no one in particular, sighing and shaking his head before leaning in to kiss the corner of Sam’s mouth. “I’ll text you when I finish work. We’ll make movie plans.”

“O-ok.” Sam’s cheeks were warm as he waved goodbye and took himself back to the dorms to study and not think about how soft Michael’s mouth was. As it turned out, his brain didn’t want a distraction. So, armed with a new-used phone and a good memory for phone numbers, he called his brother. 

Not surprisingly, Dean didn’t answer and Sam was left speaking to the voicemail. “Hey. Finally got myself a phone. If you’re around call me back?” And Sam had to wait upwards of thirty seconds before the phone lit up with an incoming call. “Gee, what took you so long?”

“Sammy,” Dean was laughing in that bright beautiful way that he could, loud and unapologetic. “My baby brother. How the hell have you been?”

“Doing alright. Passed my midterms.”

“And got yourself a phone like a real adult,” Dean pointed out the obvious. “Does this mean you got that nerdy library job too?”

“Uh, no. Second interview scheduled for tomorrow, so still have my fingers crossed.” Sam was grinning, his cheeks hurt with the force of it as he took a deep breath and closed his eyes. “The phone was actually a present from my boyfriend.”

The phone line got real quiet for a heartbeat, the sort of quiet that felt like it could stretch on forever, but then Dean was laughing again. Even if it sounded a little strained and confused, there was an underlying note of joy. “Well ok. Not something I ever thought I’d hear you say, but fuck yeah. Good for you, Sammy.”

Relief like a weight lifted from his chest and Sam lay back on his bed, bad leg dangling down to the floor. “His name’s Michael and he’s a med student.”

“Hot doctor? See, now it’s starting to make sense.” Dean’s grin was audible. “He good to you?”

“Yeah.”

“You two do it yet?”

“Wow,” Sam turned his face away from the phone to laugh. “Not that it’s any of your business. But no. We’ve only been on two dates.”

“You going to tell Mom and Dad that you’re...?”

“A confused bisexual? Yeah. If we’re still dating by Christmas when I come out there, then I’ll try and be brave and tell Mom and Dad.”

“What do you mean  _ if _ you’re still dating?” The threat in Dean’s tone was unmistakable. Instantly defensive of Sam in that way that only he could be. “You need me to have a talk with the son of a bitch for you?”

“What? No. I just mean― this is all really new to me. I’m not really sure how long it’s going to last. I have actually no idea what I’m doing.”

“Dude, as long as you’re happy, then you’re doing it right. Don’t stress out about it.”

Sam lay there, comforted in the way that he could always count on his brother to be supportive, and annoying, and annoyingly supportive. Dean was good like that. And with all that chest clutching anticipation gone, Sam relaxed and simply talked to his brother for the first time in weeks. 

Dean was still at work and couldn’t talk to long, so their goodbyes came sooner than Sam would have wanted, but there were promises to talk again tomorrow as soon as he found out about the library job. 

By that weekend he had something to celebrate, which meant that he and Michael stopped by a Dairy Queen before their movie to get milkshakes. 

They were sitting on the trunk of Michael’s car out in the parking lot of the theater, enjoying their cold treat despite the fact that it was early December. 

With a content sigh, Michael leaned sideways, resting his head on Sam’s shoulder. “Still can’t get over the fact that I get to date a hot librarian.”

“Librarian assistant,” Sam corrected, lightly touching a cheek to the other man’s hair and feeling heat crawl up his neck. “My brother was giving me a hard time about dating a cute nurse. Apparently I’m checking off part of his bucket list and he’s a little jealous.”

“You think I’m cute?”

“Shut up,” Sam grumbled and spooned more ice cream into his mouth, refusing to answer. 

“What are…” with a soft laugh, Michael sat up straight and smiled sideways up at Sam, “what are your feelings on strawberries and chocolate together?”

“A good combo I guess?” Uncertain, Sam looked into his very pink milkshake and then over at Michael’s much darker one, wondering if the man was asking to share.

And Sam felt that his assumption was a logical one, so it startled him when Michael leaned in and kissed him, slow and sugary sweet. It left Sam blushing and staring down at his knees while nervously licking his lips as he fought back a laugh. With a sideways glance he saw that the man beside him wore a similar expression―a fact that gave Sam all the courage he needed. 

“So, did you pick what movie we’re going to see yet?”

Michael looked up with those warm eyes of his. “I’d still like you to help pick.”

“Nope. If you’re paying we’ll see whatever you like. I promise I haven’t seen anything here, so it’ll be new to me any way it goes.”

“But I don’t know what kind of movies you like.”

“I just like movies,” Sam promised.

Michael made a small, frustrated sound and slid off the trunk of the car, Sam followed and laughed as the other man winced on his behalf.

“Still really wish you had your crutches with you.”

“I don’t need them,” Sam waved it off, forcibly walking at a normal pace even if it was hard to put his full weight on his bad ankle. 

“It’s only been a week―”

“And I’m fine.”

“God, you sound just like my brother and I almost hope you fall and hurt yourself again just so I can point out how stupid you’re being about this because you’re obviously still hurt.”

Perhaps if crutches were made for people Sam’s height then he wouldn’t have been looking for any excuse he could find to leave them back in the dorms. “You know what, if I fall you have my full permission to say ‘I told you so’.” 

Michael nodded like he never had intentions of doing anything less. 

The two of them ended up in the last row of seats watching that year’s seasonal Disney film. A choice that honestly surprised Sam, but delighted him at the same time. He’d been half expecting a horror movie so they could sit close and pretend to be scared―if only because that is what Dean had explained to be a normal choice for a movie date. The surprisingly film selection was far more tender than any expectations Sam might have had. 

As the credits started to roll, Sam relaxed and let his head fall to one side grinning when he noticed that Michael’s arm was snaked around the back of his seat. 

“That was cute,” he finally said, not sure what else he could add to the feel good family flick they just sat through.

Michael chuckled and shrugged. “I know I’m a walking stereotype, but I love musicals.”

Thinking really hard, Sam couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen any kind of musical aside from junior high when his science class had been forced to watch Ferngully every time they had a substitute teacher.

“It’s not my usual thing, but… it wasn’t bad.”

“Ok. So Disney was a bit much at this point in our relationship. Maybe next time we can try watching some Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra; showgirls, nineteen twenties gangsters, songs about gambling. Might be more your speed.”

“Marlon Brando was in a musical?”

Michael beamed. “Oh, I have so much to teach you.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here we get a small jump from Sam hurting his leg to nearly a month later where he is bracing for some new and more exciting accidents XD

With a slow, long stretch, Sam knocked his knuckles against the headboard, letting his feet kick comfortably off the end of the mattress. He’d never get used to warm winters, waking up in a sweat despite the lack of clothes or blankets―though Michael could probably be blamed for the for the overly warm bed along with the mild southern California winters. 

“Hey, I thought you had clinic today,” he whispered to the man whose face was buried in his neck.

“Yeah?” Was mumbled back blearily.

“It’s almost seven. You’re not going to have enough time to go home and change.”

Michael grumbled and pulled arms and legs firmly around Sam in protest. “I’ll wear yesterday’s scrubs. Won’t be my first walk of shame since meeting you.”

Sam grinned up at his ceiling.

If life had gone according to all his well laid plans then he’d currently be in Kansas with his family. 

But that plan had fallen through when he realised he didn’t have the money needed for the trip home. So a couple weeks back, instead of sitting on a packed flight, smooshed between strangers, Sam had gone to Michael’s for dinner and a movie ―a date that had lasted two very good nights with one fantastic but sleepy day in between. 

These were all unexpected but certainly not bad changes in all the plans that Sam had made when he’d first come out to California.

For the last week he’d had the dorm to himself with Benny off visiting family back east for the school holiday. It meant that Sam and Michael didn’t have to worry about scheduling date nights around their roommates, which meant that pretty much all date nights had mornings like this to look forward to. 

“You know…” Michael lightly bit his shoulder, “I think there might be enough time left before work for a quicky and a shower.”

“A quicky  _ or _ a shower,” Sam corrected, glancing again at the clock before gently unwinding his boyfriend from him, “and my vote is a shower.”

Michael’s laugh was beautiful as he slid from the bed and started searching for where his clothes had been thrown the night before. 

It gave Sam more time than he felt he deserved to admire his boyfriend’s body. 

For a little over two weeks now he’d been exploring all those beautifully muscled, hard lines, and he thought that he liked the sharp cut of Michael’s hips the best.

It was a tough decision to make, but they really were very nice hips.

With very nice and neat little teeth marks bruised into them. 

It was a small bedroom and Michael found his clothes too quickly, heading off to the bathroom but leaving the door cracked.

“So,” Michael called, turning on the shower, “you decide what you wanted to do for New Year’s Eve yet?” 

Sam pushed himself up in bed a little too eager to ask, “Were you able to switch shifts?”

“Not yet. I’ve still got to see if I can sweet talk one of the gals when I get in for my shift.”

“Just give them the pretty eyes,” Sam advised, firmly under the belief that no one could say no to one of Michael’s smiles and winks. 

Laughter could be heard over the sound of the shower. “If I can get work off, what do you want to do?”

A question that didn’t come with an easy answer. 

Sam pushed his hair behind his ears and took a deep breath before offering, “Benny’s supposed to be back by then. He invited us to a party.”

“You mean we’re going to go  _ out _ for once?”

“What do you mean  _ for once _ ,” Sam laughed in spite of himself. “We go out.”

Michael chuckled loudly. “Sam, we stay in and I am absolutely  _ not _ complaining.”

A slight blush crept up Sam’s cheeks, but he couldn’t argue. Since that fateful and unplanned dinner date both men seemed to be only too eager to make plans that wouldn’t involve leaving the house. It meant a lot of cooking together, or movie nights, or study dates―and regardless of what they chose to do it always ended in someone’s bed. 

And it was sort of awesome.

Even Dean had agreed. 

What had been a very nerve wracking Skype call had resulted in relieved laughter, which had turned into very annoyed eye rolling far too fast. Dean was nothing but proud that his baby brother had gotten himself _ ‘figured out, and finally got laid, and it’s about damn time’.  _

Apparently, Sam’s confused bisexuality was less than a second thought in the shadow of far more important things. 

“We can… we can leave the party at midnight,” Sam suggested, smiling at the cracked door billowing steam. Michael always liked his showers with the water turned as hot as it would go. “The library is closed on New Year’s day so I don’t have to be up early.”

“I mean, I’m not going to say no to an offer of a long late night with you, but I’ll have to check with Lu first to see if he’ll be out of the house.”

Sam made a face. “Am I ever going to meet your brother?”

“Why the hell would you want to?”

“Because he’s your brother?” Sam drew a knee to his chest, resting his chin and sighing. As many times as he’d been to Michael’s place he’d never actually seen the other man who supposedly lived there. Only odd traces of the second inhabitant, ratty converse shoes left by the couch, dirty coffee cups leaving rings on the otherwise spotless countertops, an obviously stolen STOP sign nailed up to a bedroom door that was always closed, and the occasional sounds of the fridge opening in the middle of the night. 

“Lu is an acquired taste and I’m actually worried he might manage to scare you away.” The shower turned off. “If you really want though, I can call our younger brother Gabriel and see if he wants to come have lunch with us or something? He’s the slightly less traumatic option between the two.” 

“Don’t worry about it,” Sam smiled and hugged his knees. “It’s really not that big of a deal.” 

They’d only known each other for a month and Sam wasn’t going to push, especially not over something so stupid. 

After a moment the other man emerged dressed in the slightly wrinkled scrubs from yesterday’s shift. Running hands through his dark, wet hair, Michael almost missed a step, crashing into the edge of Sam’s desk.

Worry overstepped all other feelings and Sam half rose off the bed. “You ok?”

“Yeah.” Michael looked up with an embarrassed smile. “Just…  _ heh _ , just got a little distracted by my hot boyfriend.”

With suddenly warm cheeks, Sam looked away. “Shut up.”

“You shut up,” Michael leaned over the bed, brushing fingers along Sam’s jaw before stealing a goodbye kiss. “Have a good day.”

Sam grinned against the other man’s mouth. “You’re going to be so late for work.”

“Worth it,” Michael sang softly and hurried out.

That curling tickle of a good mood didn't last and falling back against the bed, Sam worried if he was making the right choice. He needed advice better than what he’d been telling himself since Benny had invited him and his boyfriend to a party.

And Dean wasn’t known for his good advice, but it’s not like Sam had anyone else to talk to.

He had to actually get out of bed to find his phone in the pocket of yesterday’s jeans, and of course the battery was nearly dead. Flopping back down onto the mattress, tethered by the phone charging cable, Sam pulled open the Skype app and called his brother. 

It took some time before Dean’s face finally showed up, the house behind him shifting as he walked. “Heya, Sammy. You still in bed?”

“Yeah. Mike just left for work,” Sam rubbed at an eye, trying to figure out where his brother was, the kitchen he finally settled in unfamiliar. “Hey… remember that Halloween party I told you about?”

Dean nodded and took a big bite of something, talking with a cheek full of food, “So you didn’t call to say hello?”

“Sorry. Yeah. Hey, man. How’ve you been?” He smiled at his brother, hoping that they could overlook the momentary lapse in manners that Dean had never once cared about before.

“Great,” Dean beamed in a way that was very much teasing. “I mean, not as good as you obviously, with that  _ ‘my bed’s still warm from my boyfriend _ ’ kinda glow you got goin’ on.”

Sam rolled his eyes.

“So, what about that party?”

It said something about Sam that there was literally only one party that he’d ever gone to. He didn’t really mind though. “Benny invited me to a New Year’s party―”

“And you’re going to go? Look at you growing up into a normal human being. Next thing you know you might be going to a bar or enjoying yourself.”

Sam waited patiently for his brother to finish laughing at his own jokes. 

“Ok, but is it weird that I want to go, because I think it’s a party with the same friends as the Halloween one, and there might be a chance of me running into that blonde guy again?”

At first Dean just laughed, throwing his head back and chuckling warmly, but a slow frown overtook it. “I mean, I guess that all depends on what you’re thinking of doing if the guy is there.”

“I don’t know?” Sam tossed his head from side to side for a frustrated moment. “Tell him thank you?”

Dean snorted. “For saving you from a bunch of girls?”

“I don’t know.” Sam almost wished that he’d never told his brother about any of it. “I just keep thinking about him. Is that weird?”

“Yeah.”

“Thanks, real helpful.” Sam sighed. All memories of that night had grown foggy at best. And nearly two months after the fact the only things he was still sure of were that he’d drank too much and puked a lot. A stranger had taken him home, a man with a junker of a truck and a crooked smile. It wasn’t much, but still it stuck in Sam’s head. 

Dean got up, taking his phone with him while putting things on the other side of the kitchen, the camera only showing his shoulder for a while. “You tell your boyfriend about your weird man crush on a guy you don’t even know? Cause I’m not always great at knowing what are the right things to do when dating someone, but I sure as hell know the wrong things.”

Sam pressed his hands over his eyes. “I don’t have a crush on the guy.”

“You just want to go to a party, even though you hate parties, because the guy might be there?”

“I shouldn’t have called you,” Sam hissed under his breath.

“Didn’t he give you his number or something? Can’t you just text him a nice thank you like a normal person?”

Sam looked down at his hand that the hastily scrawled phone number had long since washed off of, and once more regretted getting that shower the instant he’d gotten back to the dorms instead of copying the number down somewhere. “I… I lost his number.” 

“That’s probably a good thing.”

Sam grumbled. He hadn’t had a phone months back, and really he’d had no intention of ever seeing the blonde man again, so it hadn’t mattered that he had no way of getting in contact with him. Sam couldn’t even remember the guy’s name aside from the fact that it was a weird one. 

What could he possibly hope to accomplish by seeing the guy again?

With a discouraged sigh, Sam finally admitted, “You’re right.”

“Wow,” the phone on Dean’s end was juggled around until his face was far too close to the camera. “You wanna say that again?”

“You’re  _ probably  _ right,” Sam didn’t mind downgrading the certainty of his statement. “I’m sure I already told him thanks.”

Dean laughed. “Yeah, alright. Not really what I was getting at, but whatever works, man.”

“What then?”

“Seriously, Sam? You’re supposed to be the smart one.”

There were times in his life that Sam activly chose to play dumb. This was one of those times. It might not have reflected well on him, but it was certainly better than admitting that even two months after the fact there were still times that he’d lay in bed wondering if he’d really kissed that guy who’d driven him home once. Because if he had, that meant that he didn’t even know the name of the first person he’d ever kissed, and that sort of ate at him in a weird way.

A way he wanted to fix.

\------

**Text me when you get home so I know you’re ok**

The text from Michael may not have had a question mark at the end, but Sam still read it as a gentle question, paired with what he could only imagine as one of the man’s soft and hopeful smiles. 

Michael was such a good guy, Sam couldn’t help but feel the slightest tinge of guilt in ignoring all the advice he’d gotten from his brother days ago. Texting a reply as best he could in the bumping back seat of Benny’s car, Sam promised his boyfriend he’d be safe and that he’d let him know when he got back to the dorms. Michael would be working until six in the morning, so there were no concerns of waking the man up by any past midnight messages.

It would be a lie to say that Sam wasn’t disappointed when his roommate pulled the car to a stop on a steep hill lined with apartment buildings. From the few and far between hazy memories of the last party he’d gone to, this wasn’t the same place. Which meant that the only reason he’d come out here was officialy stupid and tonight was probably a compleete waste of time. 

The party was four floors up, packed into a two room apartment that was filled with strangers, music playing loud enough it was hardly more than a thundering baseline you could feel in your ribs, and drinks and joints being freely passed around.

For Sam it was a very unfamiliar way to celebrate, seeing as his usual New Year’s eve consisted of him and Dean watching Die Hard and maybe sharing a beer if their folks had already gone to bed. 

Benny clapped him on the back, shouting over the noise, “Text me or something if you’re getting a ride home, k?”

Sam offered two thumbs up and watched as the only people he knew in the whole city were swallowed by the swell of strangers. 

Great.

With nothing better to do, Sam let himself drift like a leaf pulled by a slow current, quickly giving up on recognizing anyone. They were up in the bay area, too far from Stanford to realistically hope he’d run into anyone from school.

With the blaring music making it impossible to try and talk to anyone, and Sam really not being the kind of guy who felt comfortable dancing, he didn’t really have anything to do other than find himself a drink and do his best to steer his way through the crowd towards a promising bit of wall that he could lean against. 

He very nearly made it to the safety of the wall when an arm hooked around his shoulders like an anchor, dragging him to a clumsy stop.

Expecting Benny, Sam half turned to see what the problem was― but his roommate was short, and the man holding him back was taller than him by half a head, which left Sam staring at what looked to be a weeks worth of stubble and a crooked smile like a question.

Looking up, Sam knew that face, or at least he knew some sort of hazy memory of that face. 

He grinned at the blonde man he’d thought about far too many times over the past couple months, mouthing ‘hello’.

The guy did the same, understanding that there was no point wasting breath trying to talk over the music. A hand tapped at Sam’s red plastic cup, pale eyebrows raising.

Sam shrugged and grinned.

The other man took Sam’s wrist, raising the cup and smelling it before giving a disapproving frown and mouthing something that looked like a lecture. 

Sam grinned harder and took a long and defiant drink. It tasted awful, but that didn’t stop him from getting a second one before pulling his blonde stranger along, looking for a place where they could talk. 


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I go this all cleaned up and then noticed that it had only been like... 2 days since I last updated this story, and for nearly an hour I decided that I'd wait another day or two before posting a new chapter.   
But why?  
psssh.   
Moar story, says I.
> 
> I do have to say, writing this story has been odd(??) because it's already maybe 9 chapters in, but then I convinced my beta reader that it would be awesome to insert a few chapters from Luci's pov, so NOW I'm going back and writing out these insert chapters.
> 
> My favorite part of this one was during the editing process, getting the comment:  
"This is painful. Why are you doing this to me? How could I encourage you to give me Luci's side? Awful! Punch me now! The pain!!!!"
> 
> so... you've got that to look forward to X,D

Gabriel never had the best grades, but then again he’d never been all that interested in studying. It hadn’t really surprised any of them when at their parent’s insistence that he finally he’d half heartedly applied to a state college with no declared major. What had been surprising (to Lucifer at least) was that his brother had opted to move into the city. They’d grown up in a sprawling house north of the bay, with a yard, and a view, and a room of his own―and for some strange reason Gabriel had chosen to leave that all in favor of sharing a renovated loft crammed with somewhere between four and seven roommates. 

Parking in a lot down the street that only charged a reasonably twenty five bucks for the night, Lucifer jammed his hands into his jacket pockets and walked down the block to the old brick building. In another life it had been a warehouse, and from the outside it still looked like one. There weren’t many windows, but most of the ones he could see from the street were still decorated with Christmas lights despite it being New Year’s Eve. 

It was a strange place and Lucifer always felt strange about coming here.

Ducking inside out of the light sprinkling of rain, he hoofed it up the stairs and let himself into the sprawling apartment. He had a spare key, but he didn’t need it, the door unlocked and strangers already milling around and drinking. 

Strangers to Lucifer at least. He hoped that Gabriel knew most of these people―though with Gabriel it was a bit iffy. The kid was definitely the most social of the siblings and he was the sort to hand out party invitations to strangers. 

Lucifer remembered being a teen and having to drag his five year old brother away from some very shady looking guys in a park, all the while his brother insisting that he’d told them ‘hello’ so they weren’t strangers anymore. 

Materialising almost out of thin air, Gabriel was suddenly rolling around a hallway corner with his arms open and welcoming. “Hey there―oh, it’s  _ you.” _

“Oh it’s  _ me _ ,” Lucifer grinned in greeting, wrapping his arms around his brother and kissing both his cheeks. 

“What are you doin’ here, Lu?”

“Same as everyone else.” He shrugged. “Free beer?”

“I’d have thought after the party last weekend, and the couple before that,” Gabriel silently counted off a handful of recent house parties, “with you sitting there all sour faced the whole night, that you maybe didn’t really care for this kind of thing.”

“Oh god, I  _ hate  _ parties,” Lucifer confirmed without hesitation. “You know I’d rather be home watching Netflix.”

Gabriel reached up, smooshing his big brother’s face between his hands. “You’re weird. But ok.”

Not wanting or needing approval, he slapped Gabriel’s hands away. “ _ You’re _ weird.”

“Whatever. Just try to have fun? I get all bummed out when I see you sitting there alone.” 

“I won’t be alone,” he shrugged out of his jacket, deciding that the place was far too warm already. “I invited a friend.”

The look on his brother’s face was enough to confirm that this was some obvious breech in party etiquette―and Lucifer did not care in the slightest. 

Out of some painfully stupid optimism, he’d been showing up at these awful parties in hopes of running into a certain no one in particular that had never called him. But Lucifer wasn’t a party person. 

He wasn’t a people person. 

It’s why he worked with animals. 

It’s why he took his classes online. 

“But, Lu… your friends scare me.”

Grinning quietly, he booped his brother’s nose and tried to walk away. 

“No no no,” Gabriel trotted after him. “Uninvite them. One sad sack is plenty―but a second one? You guys are going to bring everyone down.”

“Promise we won’t sit in the corner frowning at all your happy friends.”

“So you’ll talk and be normal and friendly?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“But you’ll maybe have a drink, maybe dance?”

“If you wanted someone to dance with then you should have invited Mike.” 

“Funny you should mention invitations, because I don’t remember inviting you at all.”

“You posted about it on twitter, and there’s a sign on the door saying ‘ _ if you’ve got beer come in _ ’,” Lucifer rolled his eyes, glancing over his brother’s head as the door swung open and more happy and good looking young people filtered in. “Sort of figured anyone was welcome.”

Gabriel had a very specific sort of pout that still managed to come off like a smile. “Just please,  _ please _ , try and have fun, and if you’ve got a little more energy left over once you’ve done that maybe try not to embarass me?”

It was a small but desperate plea, Gabriel so focused that he didn’t notice the woman coming up directly behind him.

“I think you’ve always managed to embarrass yourself just fine without any help,” she said with a wink at Lucifer, grinning brightly when Gabriel spun around to face her.

Gabriel managed to stutter instead of any kind of self defence or greeting. 

“Gabe, you remember June, right?” Lucifer really wished he could see the look on his brother’s face, but it was probably the reaction he’d been hoping for if the bright red of Gabriel’s ears was any indicator. 

“I… I do. June. Hiya.” Gabriel ran a hand through his hair. “I haven’t seen you since… since forever. You, um, you look good.”

June smiled and rolled her eyes just a little. But truth be told, she did clean up pretty well. When Lucifer had swung by almost an hour ago to invite her to tag along, she’d been irritated and sweaty, wearing dirty overalls and paint up to her elbows. Now she had on clean jeans and a tastefully ratty low cut t-shirt that would have shown off a lot of cleavage if she’d had any to show. Lucifer had known her since they were freshmen and at thirteen she’d had roughly the same lanky teenage boy build as him, and almost fifteen years later she really hadn’t changed. 

Way back then Gabriel had had the worst crush on her.

That didn’t seem to have changed over the years either.

Sure, Lucifer had invited her so he’d have some company, but also as a low key apology to his kid brother for crashing yet another party.

He was happy enough to stand by while they caught up. It gave him a semi quiet moment to look around the sprawling loft, scanning the two dozen or so people, looking for a familiar face. No one here but happy strangers though, and he did his best to relax and enjoy the two people that he did know-- at least right up until he heard Gabriel’s incredulous, “On his  _ hips _ ?”

June was grinning again. “He hasn’t shown you?”

“No,” Gabriel turned back to him, a giddiness to the movement. “She gave you hip tattoos?”

“She wanted to practice,” Lucifer shrugged and flatly refused to justify his actions beyond that.

“I wanna see.”

Lucifer recoiled at the way his brother was eyeing his pants. “No. And no,” he pointed firmly at June, just in case she got any ideas. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to find a place to sit while there are still places to sit.”

“Alright, alright, mister grumpy,” June pinched his sleeve and let herself get pulled along, waving goodbye to Gabriel and making promises to catch up later. 

“You can mingle if you want,” Lucifer told her, sinking down onto the corner of the couch. 

“I’ve been busting ass for the last ten hours. I want a drink, and to get off my feet, and for you to tell me why we are at a New Year’s party with all these cute little college freshmen who aren’t old enough to buy the beer they’re drinking.”

He had promised to fill her in on this stupid crush of his, but first, “Sit down, June.” He got up, gently pushing her to the couch before getting them some dubious red cups to share. Sitting room was going fast as more and more people packed into the place. He sank onto the arm of the couch, leaning against his friend’s side. 

“So, dish,” she gently scratched at his knee. “You told me you needed a friend tonight.”

They weren’t as close as they’d been back in school. June had stayed here in the bay with an internship, and he’d gone south. But they still annoyed each other through text almost constantly, and they got takeout, laid on June’s floor, and stayed up too late at least once a month. Visits that tended to coincide with the end of yet another of the girl’s ill fated boyfriends.

“There’s this guy,” he said after frowning into what tasted like rum and off brand Pepsi. 

“A guy you want me to meet?”

“A guy _ I _ want to meet.”

“Oo lala,” she grinned, “keep going.”

He wished it was a better story to tell. Or at least a longer one. 

“I was babysitting Gabe on Halloween. He threw a party. I offered this cute drunk guy home. I held his hair while he puked. He fell asleep on me. I gave him tea. He kept being stupid cute. I gave him my number and he never called me back.”

June wrinkled her nose in a crooked and uncertain smile. “Oh, Luci. Don’t you know the rules? If they don’t call back you say ‘fuck them’, put on the pants that make your ass look best, then you go out with your friends and enjoy yourself.”

“He wasn’t some one night stand,” Lucifer hated having to explain outloud the stupidity of his own actions. “He was a nice guy that I wasn’t done talking to.”

She hummed dubiously, barely loud enough to be heard over the music, sipping at her drink and wisely not calling him out. 

“Oh, shut up.” He hunkered down, rounding out his shoulders and drinking. “You’re not here as a wingman. You’re just my moral support for when he doesn’t show up. He never does.”

“You drove him home. Wouldn’t that be a more direct way to stalk someone than coming to your brother’s parties… and a little less desperate?”

The name calling was a little too on the nose, but it was one of the reasons that he’d invited her along, because he knew that he’d have to stop after tonight because she’d make him move on. 

“I… um, dropped him off at the dorms but I don’t remember which one, and I don’t remember his last name and I’m not going to go to each and every dorm building on campus and ask if they have a Sam.”

“It’s nice to hear that you draw a line somewhere.” 

Lucifer liked to think that he’d never even really considered checking with all the dorms at Stanford. He liked to think that he had some personal boundaries and self discipline―and he did. He went to work, he studied, he took time for himself, watched movies, got drinks with friends, did all those normal things that he’d been doing for years. It was just that when he noticed that Gabriel was having another party, Lucifer found that he could set aside the time to visit his brother, and hang around long enough to see if maybe, just maybe among all the guests there might be one single gangly young man with a dimpled smile. 

“This isn’t going to be like you and Emma Hawkins, right?”

He looked down at her with narrowed eyes. “ _ Hokenson _ ,” he corrected, “and no. This isn’t a new Emma.”

“You sure? Because that was the last time I saw you with a crush on anyone, and you had it really  _ bad  _ for her.”

“Me and basically every guy at school. She was pretty. I got over it.”

“So this is completely different and we’re here tonight because this rando guy you met once is  _ not  _ pretty, and you totally don’t have a crush on him?”

Lucifer smiled and drank a little more, neither agreeing or disagreeing. 

“So we’re just here for the drinks and the music,” June nodded, knocking the edge of her plastic cup against his, “alright.”

Introverts weren’t meant to be alone at parties, but being here was so much more bearable with a friend at his side. It gave him someone to talk to, and he could waste hours talking to June about nothing. It was one of their favorite things to do. 

He couldn’t have traced the conversation backwards to see how they got on the topic of Spanish horror movies, but that’s where they were when he lost track of everything else.

“Luci,” June elbowed his hip, “you’re seriously not going to defend your favorite piece of crap movie?” When he didn’t answer she followed his fixed gaze and let out a deeply sincere, “Oh no.”

“What flavor of ‘no’ are you feeling?” Lucifer couldn’t take his eyes off the cute brunette on the wrong side of the room. 

“I’m going with ‘no it’s not fair you saw him first because ok, I get why we are here tonight’.” June had half risen from the couch, “If that’s the Sam I’d say you were insulting him by letting me call him just cute.”

Lucifer could only nod. 

“Go talk to him,” June was stealing his drink and pushing him off the arm of the couch.

“I don’t know what to say.”

“Hello always worked for me.”

“Smart ass,” Lucifer managed to say as his friend put the toe of her boot against his backside and shoved him further away. 

Sam was drifting away, holding a cup aloft in an effort not to spill, and moving steadily through the room towards the kitchen.

Feeling all sorts of determination and zero confidence to back it up, Lu moved through the crowd, bobbing and weaving as he did his best not to crash into anyone in the happy chaos of what had to be nearly fifty people packed into a space not meant to hold more than a dozen. Muttering apologies that no one would be able to hear over the music and laughter, Lucifer pushed his way after the other man. 

He made a grab for Sam’s shoulder, but tripped over someone’s foot and overshot his reach. In a split second he had to decide if he was going to crash into the other man or try and catch himself.

Lucifer somehow managed both. 

Hooking his arm around Sam’s shoulders for stability, he stumbled awkwardly into a backwards half hug. 

Made of all kinds of awkward angles, wiry arms and legs he still hadn’t grown into, Sam turned around. One very warm hand fell heavily against Lucifer’s side, and Sam grinned at him with a confused hook to the edges of his mouth. It took two stilted breaths before recognition flooded his bright eyes.

The guy mothed an excited ‘hello’, moving his hand from Lucifer’s side to his back, making the hug a bit more complete.

Lucifer had come to this party expecting an array of things, but not this. 

The guy’s rosy cheeks and red cup might have had something to do with it though.

Taking Sam’s wrist, Lucifer dragged the man’s drink closer, sniffing at it and grimacing because that was a cup of something very strong and very cheap. 

Sam only laughed, defiant and gorgeous as he drained the last of his drink and disposed of any evidence to his under aged drinking. Nodding towards another room, Sam mouthed a few words that were absolutely lost. 

Then with a tight handful of Lucifer’s t-shirt, Sam dragged him along like it was the most natural thing in the world. 

The loft was packed with people ready to celebrate the new year, it made movement difficult, and wow but Sam seemed determined to move around an awful lot. He hauled Lucifer into the kitchen and the hall and back into the main room where they’d started from. 

Laughing, Lucifer anchored them in one place, asking, “Where are we going?”

“What?” Sam was only faintly audible over the party.

Gesturing for the guy to come closer, Lucifer leaned heavily against him, mouth almost against Sam’s ear, repeating, “Where are we going?”

“Somewhere quiet?”

Which was a tall order to fill, all things considered. 

Lucifer thought he might know a place. He’d been here many times over the past year and he’d sort of learned how to navigate the building’s odd lay out. Pulling Sam along, they went back through the kitchen, down a narrow side hall, into the second bedroom on the left, past the couple fooling around on the bed, out the window, and onto the fire escape. The night air was bracingly cold, and the street below them had a fair amount of traffic, but it all felt nearly silent after the party. 

Sam laughed, silver breath ghosting skyward and he held his arms out like he meant to hug Lucifer. But instead he just said, “Hello, again.”

“Hi.”

“I was hoping you’d be here.”

Smiling and ducking his head, Lucifer chuckled. “Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Sam beamed, leaning against the railing and digging into a pocket. “I lost your number and I still owe you a thank you lunch.” He held out a phone to Lucifer. “Put yourself in.”

That little crush that Lucifer had been incubating for the past two months fluttered restlessly to life, making his chest feel tight and his thoughts all going funny.

Taking the phone, he did as he was told, softly joking, “Look at this piece of shit phone. I had one like it a few years ago. Same cracked screen and everything.”

“Hey. Be nice. It’s the only phone I’ve got.” Sam took the thing back, glancing at it and snorting a short laugh. “See, I couldn’t even remember your name and it was driving me crazy.  _ Lucifer _ . Really? That’s not what I was going to guess.” 

“You were drunk off your ass last time I saw you so you might not remember, but we already had this talk and you already used up your one chance to make fun of my name.”

“It’s just an unusual name…  _ Lucifer _ ,” Clearly Sam wasn’t done.

“ _ Luci _ if it’s less weird for you.”

Sam’s grin said that it wouldn’t be, but that he didn’t mind all that much. “Well, Luci. Hi, I’m Sam.”

“I know. I wasn’t the one who was drunk last time.”

“And you’re still not drunk this time,” the young man observed as he watched Lucifer over the top of his cup. 

“Yeah, no. I thought I’d leave that up to the younger, more capable people here.”

“You make it sound like you’re super old.”

Lucifer snorted, hugging himself against the cold, wishing he’d had the piece of mind to put his jacket back on before coming out here. “I’m old enough to drink at least.”

“Yeah?” Sam drained the last of his cup and roughly cleared his throat. “That must be really sad for you then since what they have to drink is really just awful.”

“I’ll be sure to let my brother know that his refreshments don’t measure up to the refined pallet of a college freshman.”

“Is this your brother’s place?”

“Yeah. Squirrly little blond guy, you can’t miss him.” 

Sam glanced back at the window they’d crawled through to get out here. Apparently seeing something inside he hadn’t expected, eyes going wide and he turned away, clearing his throat and shoving his hands into the pockets of his hoodie. “Did I, uh, did I meet your brother last time?”

“Yeah,” at least Lucifer was almost sure. “Just for a second, though. Don’t worry if you don’t remember.”

“The only thing about that party I  _ do  _ remember is you.”

There were those feelings again and Lucifer rubbed at the cold tip of his nose to help hide a grin. “I’m going to go ahead and just say that I only came here tonight hoping I’d run into you.”

“That makes two of us,” Sam laughed and sank down to sit against the building, patting the spot beside him. “You mind if we stay for a bit?”

Lucifer folded himself down, pushing his feet against the railing. “Not ready to go back to the noise?”

“Not wanting to interrupt the, um, the people on the bed.”

Curious, even if he was already certain what he’d see, Lucifer arched up to peer sideways into the window. The couple that they’d passed on their way out were right in the middle of some still mostly dressed, and very enthusiastic sex.

“I give ‘em another minute, tops,” Lucifer settled back down, bumping shoulders with Sam. “But I’m good to wait out here with you as long as you like.”

Sam smiled, pushing his hair from his face. “I wanted to tell you thank you.”

“You said thank you plenty last time,” Lucifer had never been comfortable with that sort of attention and he did his best not to squirm under the weight of Sam’s gratitude. “Forget about it.”

“For the ride. Yeah.” Sam pushed his feet up against the railing as well, mirroring Lucifer’s pose. “But I wanted to say thanks for um… this is going to sound stupid and I should have planned it out―but thanks for telling me that I’d kissed you I guess.”

“Yeah, you should have maybe thought that one out before saying it because I don’t know what the hell you’re saying.“ Lucifer glanced at the empty red cup rolling on its side nearby, wondering just how many Sam had had already. 

“Look, I’ve thought about it a lot since I lost you. Just let me say it.”

Lucifer let his head fall to one side, completely charmed, smiling softly. “Go for it.”

“Don’t laugh,” Sam elbowed him, “this is sort of serious.”

Placing a hand over his heart, he said, “Say it then. I promise to have no visible emotion whatsoever.”

Sam rolled his eyes. “So, um, this is gonna’ sound stupid, but you were sort of my first kiss.”

Which was cripplingly cute.

Lucifer had very almost forgotten that about Sam.

But how could anyone this cute make it out of highschool untouched? It was practically a crime if it was true. 

Even though he hated to break the promise he’d made only seconds ago, Lucifer frowned and hesitantly corrected, “but I wasn’t.”

Grunting in irritation, Sam elbowed him again. “Ok, but you  _ were _ .”

“As much as I’d love to claim that honor,” sitting as close as they were, feeling the radiant warmth coming off the other man, Lucifer found himself overly aware of Sam’s mouth, “my cousin was all over that before I got you outside and you started getting handsy with me… if anyone was your first kiss it was Lilith.”

Narrowing his eyes, Sam fixed him with a withering glare. “Well, you were the first one that mattered.”

Breath catching, chest feeling tight, Lucifer didn’t think anyone had ever told him anything so sweet. 

They were sitting close enough that their shoulders touched, so he didn’t have far to move, fitting his mouth over Sam’s in a slow, soft kiss. 

Sam tensed instead of kissing back, pulling away a fraction to look at Lucifer. 

A shaky apology started to form, feeling ten kinds of awkward that he might have misread the moment so badly, but before Lucifer could get the words out Sam was leaning back into him, lips sweet like rum and soda, hands warm where they rested against Lucifer’s shoulders, fingers brushing his neck and jaw.

Two months back, when he’d shuffled this leggy drunk mess into the cab of his truck, Lucifer had awkwardly fought off an attack made of wet, sloppy kisses and grabby hands. That small moment had been easily diverted, Sam taking no for an answer and curling against the seat before calmly passing out. 

This was so much nicer. 

Right up until Sam pulled away again, blinking like he was trying to clear his eyes, leaning back against the building. After an overly long moment of silence he said, “I- I never really thought about guys or girls until that party. And then I was thinking a  _ lot _ about guys… and girls… and everything.”

Lucifer softly cleared his throat, trying to shake off that punch drunk sort of feeling that came with mentally shifting gears so quickly.

“And then this guy at school asked me out, and I-I said yes.”

It was Lucifer’s turn to blink too many times. 

“We’ve been going out for a month now,” Sam grinned out at the night, “and he’s  _ amazing _ .”

Which was neither what Lucier had expected, or wanted to hear right then. 

“I never would have been brave enough to tell him yes if it wasn’t for you―and I’m just glad I ran into you again so I could say thanks.”

The near overwhelming need to say ‘ _ you’re welcome’  _ in response almost had him choking on the words. Instead, Lucifer shook his head and forced out a confused, “What?”

“You just, you helped me get myself sorted out. Thank you. For the ride home and the long talk and just everything.”

“No. I-I get that part I guess, but,” even though Lucifer thought that was a particularly strange thing to thank someone for, especially in light of the fact that, “you’ve got a  _ boyfriend _ ?”

Sam nodded too enthusiastically. “Mhm. He’s the best. I know I don’t really have much to compare him to since he’s the only person I’ve ever dated, but he’s really great.”

“I’m starting to get that.” Lucifer already hated the guy.

“He’s gorgeous, and he’s sweet, and tells awful jokes, and sings along with movie soundtracks, and―”

Lucifer had stopped listening. Right about the time Sam confirmed that he had a boyfriend, the want or need to listen to the rest of it all went away. It wasn’t that Sam suddenly wasn’t worth talking to if he was in a relationship with someone else. Lucifer hadn’t lied when he told June that he simply wasn’t done talking with this guy yet― 

It was mostly the way that he could still taste Sam on the back of his tongue, or how his lips were still warm from the small collection of kisses they’d shared only moments ago. 

Sam was still rambling happily.

Sam was drunk.

Not all the way gone, but definitely more than a little tipsy from the drinks he’d tossed back on their way out to the fire escape. 

Lucifer felt like an idiot, and a bit of a jerk for kissing a drunk kid at a party and expecting anything other than trouble. Forcing a smile he said, “He sounds really great, Sammy.”

“It’s just  _ Sam _ .”

“Well, he sounds great,  _ just Sam _ .” The exasperated look he got in return was worth it, and Lucifer felt a bit more like himself. “Now, I’d love to hear all about the lucky bastard, but I’m freezing my ass off and I’d like a drink. Let’s go back inside.”

  
  



	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I spent way too much of last night laying in bed and thinking about how last night's chapter might have left on a sharp note, and I didn't like that.  
So here, have a chunk from the next chapter, let it sooth you <3

The porcelain edge of the bathtub was cool under Sam’s cheek, and that was nice. 

It was the only thing he really had going for himself in that moment. 

His stomach was empty, his mouth tasted like regret, and his head felt full of nails. Hangovers were a real bitch, as Dean was fond of saying. It was only the second one that Sam had ever had and he hadn’t yet developed a taste for them. 

A cold hand brushed hair from his face, and wincing, Sam pried an eye open to see Michael standing over him with a worried frown. It confirmed those faint suspicions that Sam had had when he’d rolled off the couch and stumbled to the bathroom a few minutes before.

He’d made it back to his boyfriend’s house somehow―no small challenge considering Sam only faintly remembered arriving at a party filled with strangers at some point earlier in the night.

“You done throwing up?”

“Maybe,” the word tore Sam’s throat, acid roughness to his short answer.

“Can I get you some water and Aspirin?”

“Please.”

Michael left him to his misery, Sam closing his eyes tightly against the pounding in his temples. He didn’t know how he’d made it back here, but there probably wasn't any better place for him to make an idiot of himself. If his boyfriend hadn’t been turned off by their first meeting, when Sam couldn’t even walk without help, then hung over in a puddle of misery on the floor wasn’t going to do it. 

Through sheer force of will, Sam managed to sit upright by the time that Michael came back, shakily taking the offered medicine and the glass of cold water.

The other man sat on the edge of the tub, smoothing his hands over Sam’s sweat dampened hair, tracing patterns along his scalp. It was weirdly soothing. Comforting when Sam didn’t know that he needed to be comforted. 

“I hate this,” his complaint sounding more like a growl more than proper words and Sam had to swallow hard to keep his pills and water down, his whole body seeming to want to reject the help.

“No, no, keep it down. You’ll feel better,” Michael promised in a soft whisper, his hands curling over Sam’s shoulders with surprising strength like he could simply force the ‘better’ into Sam’s body.

It didn’t work out that way though, and despite his own best efforts, Sam was very quickly hunched back on his knees, retching out all those good intentions. 

Once the awfulness was over, Sam managed to turn and rest his head against the other man’s knee, leaning his weight against Michael’s legs and simply refusing to move until he felt less like he was dying. If he minded, the other man didn’t say, his hands resting heavily along Sam’s neck and shoulders with seemingly no intention of moving or complaining.

Sam didn’t know how long it took for him to feel human enough to want a shower, but he definitely knew when he was there. 

“I-I’m ok,” he lied through his teeth, patting at his boyfriend’s leg. “Didn’t mean to wake you up. You go back to bed.”

“Yeah. I’ll get right on that,” Michael promised, leaning down to kiss the top of his head.

“I’m just going to get a shower. I’ll be in in a bit.”

With a soft laugh, Michael reluctantly agreed, and though he didn’t say it there seemed to be some doubt if Sam would be able to do everything he’d just said without ample help.

To be honest, there were some strong doubts on Sam’s end as well.

But despite the odds, he managed to get clean and even half dressed before fumbling his way down the hall and into Michael’s room. 

He tried to be quiet as he slid into bed, not wanting to wake the other man, a wasted effort as his boyfriend instantly rolled towards him and pulled both arms around him in a way just shy of possessive. 

“Hey.”

“Hey,” Sam agreed, comfortably resting his chin on top of Michael’s head and trying to relax, something that would be so much easier to do if he didn’t feel like hell. “Mike?”

“Mhmm?” A soft hum pressed into his throat followed by a very soft kiss.

“How’d I get here?”

“I’m guessing you walked, but there’s always the chance that you rolled your way down the hall and into my room. Don’t know. Had my eyes closed.”

Sam grunted, refusing to smile at the teasing. “No. I mean how’d I’d get back to your place?”

“You don’t remember?”

Closing his eyes tight, Sam wracked his soggy brains for any sort of answer that wasn’t related to how bad he was at keeping down cheap booze.

Michael gently tried to help, asking, “You don’t remember the beautiful blonde disaster of a man who dumped you on the couch a few hours ago?”

An interesting and unpleasant possibility came to Sam’s mind. “Did he drive a rusted, beaten up truck?”

“Ah, so it’s coming back to you now?”

It was in fact not.

The simple reality of it was that Sam only knew one blonde man with a busted pickup who had a habit of driving him home from parties. 

With a deep sigh, he pressed his face into his boyfriend’s hair, relaxing with the familiar scent, settling into the far too many blankets that always seemed to be on the other man’s bed.

Stillness started to settle. Sam felt far too awful to manage any sleep even if it felt good to lie there in bed with his boyfriend. Instead, he waited for Michael's breathing to even out while his own mind seemed determined to stay stuck on the man who’d brought him here. 

But Michael stubbornly remained awake, thumb slowly tracing the lines of Sam’s ribs. 

The bedside clock said it was nearly ten in the morning, long past time that either of them should be getting some decent sleep, only Sam knew that he wouldn’t be able to until he got something off his chest.

“Mike,” he mumbled, not at all sure how to approach this. “When did you know you liked guys?”

“Well, that’s a bit of a U-turn in conversation, but ok.” Michael chuckled. “I, um, I guess I always knew I was gay? Had my first crush on another boy when I was in kindergarten and never looked back.”

Sam liked the sound of it. The certainty. Michael made it seem like the easiest thing in the world. He lay there in his boyfriend’s too small bed, cuddled close, wondering what it would have been like if his own life could have been so simple. Hesitantly, he raised his head and pointed out the obvious, “Now you’re supposed to ask me the same question.”

Michael sleepily cracked one eye open, obviously already half asleep, which was no surprise considering he’d worked all night. “Sorry. Sorry. Of course. When did you realise you liked guys?”

“October thirty first,” Sam said without hesitation.

An answer which seemed to bring Michael into focus. “That’s oddly specific.”

“I mean, it could have been the first of November. The exact time of night is a bit hazy. But Benny took me to a party up in the bay area and I met this guy―”

“Do you mean  _ this  _ October, as in two months ago?” Michael half sat up, steadying himself on an elbow and looking down at Sam. “I mean I’d sort of thought you were exaggerating when you said that you’d never really… so I’m really your first boyfriend?”

“You’re my first anything… except for my first kiss.”

“Oh?” There was only mild amusement in that question, Michael starting to get that awful smile that he did sometimes. That smile he used when gossiping about his coworkers or telling embarrassing stories about his younger brother. He actually seemed excited to hear this story.

“All I know is I got stupid drunk at a party and this really nice guy saved me from some very handsy girls. When I sobered up enough to tell him where I lived we got to talking… and apparently very drunk me tried to put the moves on him.”

“You’ve got moves?”

“Doubtful,” Sam passed a hand over his very warm face, laughing through the embarrassment. “I’m sure I just pawed at him and made an ass of myself. I… I really don’t remember any of it, but… like I said, he was nice. He bought me a mint tea when I was done puking my guts out, and he let me sleep with my head on his shoulder until I was clear enough to know what was going on.”

Michael laid back down almost forcefully, his head digging into the pillow beside Sam’s. 

“His truck got a flat on the drive back out here,” Sam knew he was rambling, but it was a story riddled with holes that he’d gone over a million times in his head, and only had a chance to say out loud once. The words had a life of their own, crawling out of him like living things, all those few and far between patches of memory left from that night. “We sat on the side of the highway just talking about nothing I can even remember now, until someone brought him a spare tire. It’s stupid, right? Like nothing at all romantic or anything, it was just this stupid bad night that got worse… but I still think about him sometimes. Does that make sense?”

“It does.”

“Do you still think about your first kiss?”

“I do,” Michael chuckled, shaking his head, “especially when my boyfriend brings up his first kiss, which by the way sounds less than good. I never thought mine was anything special, but at least I remember it.”

“Yeah?”

“Oh yeah. His name was Aaron and we were in the same Boy Scout troop, sharing a tent during our first real overnight campout.” He grinned, first at the ceiling, and then at Sam. “Took me until the second night to get up the courage to ask him if he’d ever kissed anyone before. And he said no, and I said me neither, and then I asked if he maybe wanted to practice for eventually when there was someone either of us wanted to kiss.”

“Sneaky.”

“Right?” Michael laughed. “I was smooth.”

“Yeah, I’m sure your moves were as good as mine.”

“Oh, probably worse,” he scooted close enough to let their noses touch. “I was a goofy looking kid. You’re guaranteed to have been your same gorgeous self all the way back in two months ago when you met… that nice man who took you home.”

Sam laughed at it came out too sharp. “I went with Benny to that stupid party tonight because I thought that guy might be there again.”

“Was he?”

“I don’t know,” Sam sighed, feeling relieved and at the same time sort of awful for having said it all out loud. “I think he might have been the guy who brought me back here to your place.” 

Michael didn’t say anything, which felt absolutely awful right up until he lightly pressed their lips together. “I think he was too,” the words whispered so softly between them. “He might have mentioned how he was getting tired of peeling your drunk ass off the floor and that if he had to do it a third time he’d start asking to get paid.”

Sam laughed.

Michael did too.

“You’re not mad?”

“Why would I be mad? Did you go to the party planning to kiss him again?”

“No.” Sam shook his head. Honest. Of all the stupid half ideas he’d had about going to the party tonight, he’d never considered kissing they guy who’d driven him home Halloween night. Kissing anyone other than Mike hadn’t crossed his mind for a very simple reason. “I’m dating you.”

“Then why would I be mad?” Michael smiled that absolutely perfect smile of his, the one that had made Sam’s mind go all funny the first time they’d met. It seemed unfair that anyone could look as tired as Michael did and still manage to be so very kissable.

Sam didn’t even feel like fighting that urge, sliding a hand through Michael’s hair and pushing the other man back into the bed. 

What could have been a bad night was wholly salvaged by a very understanding boyfriend and a whole lot of kissing―which is exactly how Sam wished he could fix every other problem he had. 

But things couldn’t be that simple, mainly because some problems were caused by kissing and far bigger problems were caused by that boyfriend of his. 


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do love how so many of you were happy at that last update, and then very nervous about the next one. Happy to give you jazz hands and point out that that last chapter took place on January 1st, and this chapter is suddenly in the end of March XD   
Why could I make anything easy?  
I was in far too good of a mood while writing these chapters to have things get terrible for anyone, so it's still sort of bouncing along happily-  
well, happy Michael, embarrassed Sam, and irritated Luci

The school had a fitness center that was free to students and gave a discount to people who worked on campus, which meant that for both Sam and Michael it was cheaper than a proper gym membership. And though fitness had never really been high on Sam’s list of priorities, it was a surprisingly important part of his boyfriend’s life, so they’d started going together a couple times a week during winter break. 

Unfortunately, once classes started back up it became a little harder to match up their schedules.

There were of course still plenty of nights and mornings over the next couple months where they were able to squeeze in dates (proper ones and less than proper ones), it was just a special occasion when they both managed to have the energy and the time to hit the gym.

It always left Sam in a fantastic mood, the whole walk back to his dorm where they’d get a shower before going out and grabbing dinner. A really nice ritual which was messed up the night that Michael shouldered his gym bag and tossed his keys at Sam.

“You’re driving,” he said, grinning brightly.

“I am?” Sam rattled the keys, trying to straighten them out. “Where are we going?”

“My place,” he sang, leading the way towards one of the schools monstrously large parking garages. “I’ve got a surprise for you.”

Laughing in confusion, Sam followed. “Do I get to know what the surprise is?”

“If I told you it wouldn’t be a surprise,” Michael rolled his eyes.

“Does me driving have anything to do with it?”

“No,” his boyfriend laughed. “You’re just driving so I can make a phone call.”

Sam raised an eyebrow, but unlocked the driver’s side of Mike’s car and got it. He’d driven the big read Jeep a few times since they’d started dating; though he didn’t have a car of his own he did have a license and his boyfriend said that meant that he needed to get behind a wheel occasionally so he didn’t forget anything. 

Sam started the short drive to his boyfriend’s house, trying not to listen in on the whole call and failing expertly. 

“Heya. There’s three steaks in the fridge. If you cook them up you can have one.”

It was a strange offer that got Sam grinning as widely as his boyfriend beside him. 

“Yes, Lu. I plan to eat two of them all by myself,” Michael’s tone instantly changed, sarcasm clear enough you could actually hear him rolling his eyes. “You want to have a long conversation on healthy eating choices, or would you like to put pants on and go warm up the grill?” He made a frustrated noise in response to whatever answer he got, before sniping back, “Because normal humans wear pants when cooking,” a level of frustration in that statement that could only come by this being an old argument. 

Sam kept his quiet grin, knowing full well what this all meant. 

One of Michael’s younger brothers was at home and Sam would be able to finally meet him. It was a small thing, something that he felt like he was overly excited about―but nearly a month back he’d introduced his own brother and boyfriend because they were both important to him and it felt that they should meet even if it was only through a Skype call. The fact that Michael felt ready to do the same (at least with one of his siblings) made Sam feel important.

Michael continued to argue for nearly the whole car ride, all good natured, but still that certain brand of irritated that only siblings could manufacture. 

“I’m hanging up on you now―because I’m pulling into the driveway. So put some damn pants on,” with one last noise of frustration, Michael put his phone away and ran his hands through his hair. 

Sam let the keys dangle from the ignition, the car idling in front of the other man’s house. 

“Ok,” Mike took a deep breath, and then another, “I won’t be offended if you two don’t get along perfect. I love my brother, but he goes out of his way to make sure that no one likes him. So if he starts being a sassy bitch at you, go ahead and be a sassy bitch right back. Ok?”

“I’m not sure I  _ can _ be a sassy bitch?” 

Pressing a kiss against Sam’s cheek, Michael laughed warmly. “Well, just do your best.” One last deep breath before he slid from the car, leaving Sam to follow.

“Hey, um, is tonight special?” Sam asked, a little uncertain. “I mean, suddenly brother time?” 

He wasn’t at all complaining, it was just that at this point he’d come to accept the fact that Mike always texted his brother Lu to warn him that Sam would be coming over, and the elusive younger brother would be gone for the night―and Sam one hundred percent understood. He also was not into the idea of trying to do homework while having to listen to his big brother having sex. But at the same time, it was hard not to take it personally that for nearly six months now that he’d been dating Michael, the man’s younger brother had been pointedly avoiding them. 

According to Michael, Lu had never liked any of his boyfriends to the point of fist fights, so years back he’d just stopped introducing them.

Michael was smiling now though, looking just as uncertain, but somehow happy about it. “My brother’s been  _ seeing _ someone for a while now, so I don’t have to feel like I’m flaunting my relationship status.”

Shaking his head and chuckling, Sam tossed the keys to his boyfriend, giving him the honor of opening his own front door.

“Thank you,” he sang softly, hesitating only a moment with an uneasy look at the door before opening it up and calling out, “You dressed?” 

“I’m gettin’ my damn pants on,” his brother yelled back almost angrily from down the hall. 

With a near apologetic look, Michael turned to Sam, explaining, “He argues that home is where the pants aren’t―and I say you can’t cook or meet new people in just boxers.”

Before Sam could say that his own brother did the same sort of thing, the yelling from down the hall came again. 

“What?”

Michael rolled his eyes, “I wasn’t talking to  _ you _ , Lu.”

“If you’re going to talk to yourself then do it in your head,” was the shouted complaint.

Sam slowly set his gym bag on the floor beside the door, glancing repeatedly at Michael who’d started to get a slow grin, promising that this might actually turn out ok. 

“I was talking to my boyfriend.”

A strangled noise came down the hall before, “Oh god, he’s not here is he?”

With an irritated eye roll, Sam answered before Michael could. “I am and I  _ can  _ hear you.”

Many half heard grumbles came from the other side of the house and Sam and his boyfriend shared a look. 

Mike went into the kitchen and got them both a glass of water while loudly lecturing the other side of the house. “You can’t hide back there all night, Lu. Come be social for a few minutes and have dinner with us… If you don’t come out we’ll bring the food to you and have a picnic on your bed.”

“ _ Fine―  _ Fine!” 

Sam watched with nervous curiosity as the door at the end of the hall swung open, and an annoyed looking blond man popped his head out.

With no gentleness or joy, Lu started to say, “Nice to meet you…  _ Sam _ ?” The irritation shifting rapidly to complete confusion. 

And though it had been months and Sam had never been around Lucifer without the haze of liquor there to make things blurry and confusing, he easily recognised the man slowly walking towards him.

Those sleepless, bruised eyes and that smile that managed to be more angry than anything else, were both more than familiar. Coming face to face with this man again after so long felt like remembering a particularly strange dream.

“Hey,” was all Sam could manage, too stunned to come up with anything more witty. 

Lucifer walked half way down the hall before stopping, pulling his eyes from Sam to glare at his brother. 

“So this is Sam,” Michael smiled with all sorts of false innocence. “You might remember him?”

Pointing an unsteady finger at Michael, Lucifer stuttered before getting out, “At what point did me telling you to get the cute, gay, drunk kid on the couch home in the morning translate to  _ Michael, please date him _ ?”

Michael laughed. “Ok, but you have absolutely no idea how confused I was when I got in in the morning to find that you’d put a post-it note on my hungover boyfriend, because at that point we'd already been going out for a month. I’d just thought he’d gotten himself over here somehow and you wanted him out of the house.”

With an irritated sound, Lu ran his hands through his hair, glancing between the two other men before finally settling back on his own brother. “You should have told me―”

“How do I tell a post-it note anything?” Even though Michael did a great job sounding annoyed, laughter was edging back into his voice.

“You could have texted me,” Lucifer threw his hands in the air, pacing from side to side like a caged animal, “or-or told me when I got home, instead of listening to me make an ass out of myself.”

Sam only wished that he could join in on the conversation, except he was too mortified to add even the smallest sound of horror in his own defense. 

The only thought rattling around in his mind was that months back he’d told Michael about his first kiss―and all the while, Michael must have known full well exactly who Sam had been talking about. 

Even bringing in to account for all the awful things that his own brother had put him through over the years, this was possibly the most embarrassing thing that had ever happened to Sam.

Like a child throwing a fit, Lucifer hissed at his brother with a heartfelt, “I hate you  _ and  _ your dumb smug face,” before going back to his room.

And if it wouldn’t absolutely make things even more awkward, Sam would have followed.

Not for a chance to be alone with Lucifer, but because a hiding place sounded amazing. 

Unphased by it all, Michael slipped his arms around Sam’s waist, resting his chin against Sam’s shoulder, tugging him slowly side to side. It was one half of a hug, both comfortable and oddly comforting, and Sam felt himself starting to relax. 

Soft kisses were pressed into his cheek and behind his ear.

For months, since the day after they’d first met, Sam had been wishing to see the grumpy man who’d saved him again. Apparently all he had needed to do was go knock on the unwelcoming door.

“This is awkward as hell,” he finally admitted, eyes fixed on the STOP sign at the end of the hall. 

“Is it?” Michael chuckled as the swaying stopped. “We can have less dancing if that helps?”

“I think I might have kissed your brother.”

“Before you met me, yeah. At least that’s what I’ve heard.”

“H-how … I mean.  _ Wow, _ Mike. You really just kept this one to yourself for months, didn’t you?”

“Yes I did.”

“You proud of yourself?”

“I really am.” And he sounded like it too. All kinds of giddy as he gave Sam a rough squeeze. “I’m the nice brother. I never get to keep secrets. Especially not from him.”

Sam shook his head, still stunned, but enough of that gut wrenching surprise had started to fade that he felt like he could allow himself almost relax. 

Turning in the circle of Michael’s arms, he stole a slow kiss before nodding his head towards that closed door. “Is he going to come back out and eat dinner with us?”

“Maybe if you ask him? He’s not going to talk to me for at least a week.”

Uncertain why his boyfriend thought he had any power over his younger brother, Sam shrugged and went to go test Michael’s blind faith. 


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can I say how awesome it is to have such a backlog of these chapters? I just get to come back from a busy day, relax, sippy sip my starbucks, reread the upcoming chapter for last little edits, and then post about stupid boys XD   
Yay
> 
> hopefully it's not too much updating? D:   
Something I always worry about. What if people are getting these nearly daily email notifications and they are like 'gah, this story again? Ham needs to calm down' but hopefully that's only a weirdly hypothetical scenario playing in my neurotic brain and y'all are having as much fun as me <3

Winter hadn’t given up quite yet, still stubbornly hanging on, making the night air a little too sharp for Lucifer’s taste, but he’d be damned if he went back inside to get more clothes. Jeans and t-shirt would have to do as he stood as close to the grill as he could while still feeling safe-ish. 

He’d closed the back door on his way out with dinner, not in the mood to have a conversation with the other two men. It didn’t keep him from repeatedly glancing inside through the glass, and prickling while he watched Michael making a salad and laughing and joking with someone that Lucifer had pointedly almost forgotten about. 

Sam had never called after New Year’s, and all things considered, he thought it was for the best. If the kid was happy then Lucifer had been determined to be happy for him, cut his losses and move on. 

Apparently this was a chronic crush however.

Feelings that had been dormant and never really left his system. 

It certainly didn’t help that in the past few months Sam had managed to only get a little taller and a noticeable amount more attractive.

And here was Lucifer, fresh from work, not even showered yet, still smelling like dogs, and to top it off the shirt he’d pulled on to meet Mike’s boyfriend seemed to be inside out. 

His phone was back in his room. He couldn’t even text out a plea for help. 

He’d have to stick it out until the meat was cooked, because there was no way in hell he was going to make more trips in and out of the house than absolutely necessary. 

The sound of the door sliding open behind him tightened his spine. Seeing as there was no one inside that he wanted to talk to, there was no one who should be coming out to see him. 

At least those were his thoughts right up until he glanced over his shoulder and saw Sam standing there with a question mark of a smile. 

“Heya. You need any help?”

“No,” literally, he was just standing there next to a closed grill, waiting to flip some steaks over. “But I’m sure Mike could use a hand with whatever.”

“He’s uh, he’s in the shower and doesn’t really need my help with that.”

That was the moment that Lucifer’s mind felt appropriate to remind him of every time he’d come home too early and not made it from the garage to his room and the safety of his headphones before having to hear his brother having sex in the other room.

“So you’re… you’re really dating my brother. Aren’t you?”

“Yeah, since Thanksgiving.” The younger man edged a little closer, lightly poking at one of the bare branches of their low hanging apricot tree. “So that makes you his brother Lu.”

“Guilty,” he mumbled, looking down at the grill. “You mind keeping an eye on this while I go grab a plate?”

Sam nodded and Lucifer barely took note of it before going inside. He wasn’t running away, he was just giving himself another few moments to think. Going straight back to his room, he pulled off his shirt before finding one that was definitely clean and definitely not inside out, then grabbed his phone and skirted the kitchen to find that plate he’d mentioned. 

Stepping back out into the cold, Lucifer caught himself, holding his breath as he once again saw Sam. And the guy was simply standing there looking up at the sky, sharp line of his jaw turned upward―and Lucifer wasn’t breathing. That’s how bad it was going to be tonight apparently. 

The plate was set down with a very deliberate clatter as he tugged his phone from his pocket and sent a pleading text.

**Just met Mike’s boyfriend. I need help**

And a very strong drink. 

Maybe two.

Sam was grinning at him, this odd little hesitancy around the corners. “It’s so weird seeing you again. I mean, I don’t really remember New Years, except  _ maybe _ trying to get you to sing  _ Auld Lang Syne _ with me? But that might have been something I made up.”

Lucifer nodded faintly, not at all sure why that would be the only one of the many odd moments from that party that stuck with Sam. 

“I just… I got a job, and a new semester has started, and I didn’t know how to get ahold of you again and… and now here you are.”

“Here I am.”

Another grin, this one with a touch more certainty. “I’m glad.”

Before Lucifer had a chance to form an opinion on that, Michael popped his head out the door, wet hair pushed back from his face, smiling at them both. “Dinner almost done?”

It was a shame, in Lucifer’s opinion, that he was no longer holding the meat tongs―because they would have been significantly more threatening to point at his brother than a finger.

He had absolutely nothing nice to say to his Michael. 

He couldn’t even be proud of his gossipy talkative brother for keeping a secret for once. 

Not tonight at least.

Mike poked the tip of his finger against Lucifer’s. “I’ll take that as a no.”

Irritated, he furiously wiped his finger on his shirt and went back to the grill. 

“Alright,” Michael chuckled, “I’m going to go study for a bit. Test tomorrow morning.”

And he went back inside like it was nothing.

Like he had no concerns about leaving the other two alone.

Obviously.

Lucifer wasn’t about to do anything.

Flipping the steaks, and trying to not look at Sam but also not make it obvious that he wasn’t looking at Sam, Lucifer checked his phone. 

June never let him down, texting him back,  **I’m strapped for cash at the moment, boo. But give me a few hours I can put together the bail money**

He chuckled under his breath, retyping his request for deliverance. 

She sent him heart emojis and promises that she was already on her way.

“Sorry,” he smiled sideways at Sam. 

The guy just shook his head, nodding towards the grill. “Those should be just about done.”

“And naturally he’s an expert chef too,” Lucifer sighed under his breath.

“Sorry,” Sam put his hands up. “It’s habit. I’m Not telling you how to do your business. I’ve just sat shotgun to my brother making a couple hundred steaks.”

“It’s alright,” Lucifer wasn’t going to complain, firstly because Sam was right, and second because he liked listening to the other man talk. 

Steaks were set onto the plate, and Lucifer found himself wracking his memory for something thoughtful to say, but falling short. That’s what happens when you try to forget about someone. You sort of forget about them, and he could hardly remember what it was that Sam did for work. “New job is a job at school, right?”

Which seemed to be close enough because Sam beamed at him, dimples and all. “Yeah. At the library.”

“Congrats, Sammy.”

“It’s just Sam.”

“Whatever you say,  _ Sammy _ ,” Lucifer dug in because he had to get some of the salt out.

Unfortunately it was a comment that was answered by a strange growl of frustration from Sam―a noise that crawled through Lucifer and coiled low in his gut.

He passed the plate to Sam with instructions to take it in to Mike.

It only gave him a few seconds of alone time. A minute tops. There was only so long he could put things away, but any breathing room was good breathing room. 

Unless it was too much―because going inside the house and hearing the familiar argument from the direction of the front door, Lucifer realised that he’d been gone a touch too long.

His brother and his best friend hadn’t gotten along in years, not since that one time back in highschool when June had walked in on Michael kissing her boyfriend and had retaliated a month later by kissing Michael’s boyfriend. Lucifer had wisely never chosen sides, but at a certain point he’d decided they were both idiots because even now, years later, things between Michael and June always quickly devolved into name calling and then hitting. 

“I’m not waiting on the porch like some teenager selling magazines,” June leaned a shoulder against the doorframe. “It’s cold out here.” 

Michael had arms crossed over his chest, shoulders squared, trying to use his height for intimidation even though that had never worked. “And you know you’re not allowed in my house until you apologise.”

“It isn’t  _ your  _ house, it’s a rental,  _ bitch _ .”

“And you can wait outside, bitch.”

Lucifer hurried down the hall, hardly noticing the concerned expression Sam wore. “Hey, kids. You two know the rules. If you can’t play nice―”

Michael turned away from the open door, looking about ready to really ruin someone’s day. 

“Sorry, Mike. Can’t stay for dinner,” he kissed his brother’s cheek before jamming his feet into his shoes. “And wow, you got here fast, Juney.”

“Yeah, well, I was in the neighborhood,” she hadn’t taken her eyes from Michael, like she thought her small scowl would actually scare the guy.

Judging by the sassiness of Michael’s head tilt, it was likely that Lucifer was the only one afraid of all the wonderfully awful possibilities this interaction offered them.

A very small part of Lucifer was sad that he’d be losing the opportunity to have an incredibly uncomfortable dinner with his brother and Sam―but self preservation being what it was, he knew his limits.

“Sam, I… I’ll catch you around.”

The very confused looking young man nodded, giving a small wave.

“Ok,” June started as soon as the door was closed, “don’t tell your brother I said so, but new boyfriend is kind of cute.”

“He’s not  _ new _ . They’ve been going out for months and months and months.”

“Alright, well good for them?” She seemed confused, but actually kind of encouraging in the simple statement. Just because the two couldn’t be alone together didn’t mean that they hadn’t been good friends at some point, or that they didn’t constantly badger Lucifer for updates. 

June popped open the back seat of an idling dark sedan with an Uber sticker in the window. “Maybe he’s dating a not jackass for once. Wouldn’t that be a fun change.”

“You don’t recognise him?” Lucifer asked, circling round to the other side of the car and getting in.

“It’s not my job to keep track of Mikey’s parade of boy toys.”

“That was  _ Sam _ .”

The driver half turned in their seat, asking in a far too interested tone, “Oh, so you finally got to meet Sam?”

Lucifer blinked, brain taking a moment to recognise Gabriel, and then to realise that the question meant that his baby brother had already been treated to Michael’s boyfriend. 

“Wow. I hate this,” he breathed out.

“Isn’t he nice?” Gabriel rested his chin against the edge of the driver’s chair, smiling.

Lucifer rubbed at his eyes and the pressure he could feel behind them. “Gabe, why are you here?”

“June needed a ride…”

Looking up, Lucifer turned from his brother to his friend, trying very hard not to grit his teeth. “Did I interrupt something?”

“We were just having dinner with Dad,” Gabriel smiled that undaunted smile of his.

Lucifer was aware of the fact that his brother and June had been spending time together recently. He thought it was good for them both to reacquaint with an old friend. But dinner with Dad could actually mean a very different sort of relationship was starting here, and he didn’t know quite how to feel about that right now.

June interrupted the sibling stare down with a waved hand between them. “Ok, why do we care who Sam is?”

“I don’t know?” Gabriel shrugged, because after all, Michael’s boyfriends tended to come and go with enough frequency that it had never been all that important to keep track of them before.

Lucifer sank down in his seat, fully aware that they were still parked in front of the house and his problems weren’t going anywhere. “ _ Sam _ . The guy… the guy I kissed at the New Year’s thing.”

June shrugged, no recognition on her face, but in her defence she’d never spoken to him, and Lucifer hadn’t mentioned the guy again after what happened on New Years.

Gabriel asked a little too loudly, “Why would you kiss a  _ guy _ ?”

“Because sometimes I like to kiss guys, ok?” This was not the way Lucifer had wanted to tell his baby brother about this, but hey, tonight was already a dumpster fire, so why not go for it.

“Wait, wait, wait. So you  _ kissed  _ Mike’s boyfriend?” Gabriel looked impressed at the stupidity of such an action.

“I didn’t know they were dating at the time!”

June slapped his shoulder, “Oh! I remember him.”

“Great,” he smiled sourly at her before kneeing the driver’s seat. “Do we have to pay you first, or can we just go towards the booze and figure this out later?”

Laughing, Gabriel pulled away from the house. They’d driven maybe two blocks before the little gremlin r let out a gasp. “Oh my god. You kissed a guy that kissed Michael.”

“Yes.”

“So, you’re saying there’s a possibility that you kissed lips that had been on Michael’s dick?”

Lucifer put his face in his hands and laughed with no humor behind it, really looking forward to that drink.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this makes 2, count them, 2 Lucifer chapters in a row. I'd forgotten that initially this was the first Luci pov chapter written and all the other ones were me working backwards... it's muddled some things in my head tbh, but we're all sorted out, and here we are, meeting Kelvin for the first time <3
> 
> I don't watch the show any more, so when my beta reader suggested him for someone who could be in a very casual sort of relationship with Luci, and possibly later in a very healthy and good relationship with Michael I had no idea who she was talking about. She sent me clips from the show. I absolutely approved. Hopefully you will enjoy him as well <3 he's a good guy

He’d had one single glass of whiskey.

Granted, it was a tall glass, but still, only one. 

It wasn’t enough to account for the pounding in his head the next day. 

But Lucifer would get these headaches sometimes. The sort that put pressure behind his eyes, nausea churning in his gut and would lay him out flat for the rest of the day. Stress was the usual trigger―but today had been a nearly painfully slow day at work. Despite whatever assurance he’d given himself that he was  _ fine _ , and ignoring the handful of tylenol he’d taken after lunch, the fluorescent lights still stung his eyes and the throbbing in his skull hadn’t left with all the daytime noise of his coworkers. 

The shelter was empty for the night, or as empty as it ever was. Employees, volunteers, and interested pet adopters all gone, leaving Luci alone with the ticking of the clocks and occasional distant barking from the kennels. 

There was only a small stack of adoption forms left to enter into the system, and a significantly larger stack of lost pet forms to sort through. He could always leave them for tomorrow, seeing as they weren’t his job anyways. But if they weren’t done tonight chances are there wouldn’t be time to get them taken care of tomorrow either and the paperwork would only continue to pile up. 

On a normal night he’d be grateful for an interruption, but tonight the angry buzz of their reception bell only made his headache worse.

After hours the doors were all bolted, and he was very inclined to ignore whoever was leaning on the bell, except the asshole outside kept on ringing and the want to kick someone’s ass was enough to motivate Lucifer to his feet. 

With irritated profanities on the tip of his tongue, he marched himself to the front and flicked on the lobby lights. 

“We’re closed,” He call through the locked glass doors, fighting a smile when he recognised the familiar figure leaning against the wall.

Kelvin raised an eyebrow, that welcoming grin of his slotting into place. “What if I ask real nice?”

Rolling his eyes, but grinning back, Lucifer unlocked the door and let his friend inside. 

The word ‘friend’ would have been misleading though. 

Kelvin worked at the emergency vet clinic two blocks uptown. He’d been coming by the shelter every Wednesday afternoon for nearly a year to do low cost spay and neuters on the animals before they were adopted out. He usually stayed around the shelter until Wednesday night so him and Luci could get off in the supply closet. 

He was a pretty decent guy. 

A phenomenal vet. 

A very good lay. 

And all that aside, today was Thursday and Lucifer had no idea why the guy was here.

“Forget something yesterday?” Lucifer asked as he locked the door behind the other man.

“Am I that obvious?” Kelvin chuckled then cocked his head. “You look like shit.”

“Thanks.”

“Rough day?”

“Rough last night.”

A small crease formed between his eyebrows. “Sorry, Luci. I know it was sort of a quick one but―”

“Not  _ you _ ,” Lucifer snorted, nudging past Kelvin. “No. I had to meet my brother’s boyfriend for the first time last night and I’ve had half of a migraine since.”

“Ouch. His boyfriend is that bad?”

“No. His boyfriend is just  _ that  _ gorgeous.” Lucifer shook his head, not wanting to spend any more time than he already had dwelling on how he had nothing bad to say about his brother’s boyfriend. “What did you forget here?”

“Favorite coffee cup,” Kelvin shrugged, perfectly comfortably to let Lucifer drop the subject of his headache, “either in the break room or the supply closet.”

“You want help looking,” Lucifer offered, glancing down the hall, “specifically in the storage room? I can take a minute from my paperwork to help a friend.”

“ _ A minute _ ?” Kelvin chuckled. 

“Or five?” Lucifer pulled out his key ring and made his way towards the storage room, their little quiet corner where there were no security cameras.

They’d talked it over a long time back, worked out between them how neither were looking for anything more than a nice distraction. 

Kelvin was a workaholic who enjoyed salads and iced tea, and owned house plants. 

Which actually was a concise list of some of the things that Lucifer hated most.

Very quickly after meeting they’d figured out that the only thing they really had in common was how much they appreciated finally finding another guy who was equally comfortable being a top or a bottom, depending on how they were feeling that day.

And right then Lucifer was feeling more than a little frustrated.

A little more than five minutes later, Lucifer was struggling to catch his breath, pressing his face into the curve of the other man’s chest and slowly stroking the very nice things still hugging his hips.

The two of them had never been romantic. They didn’t cuddle. They never talked about anything after sex except for work related things or if they wanted to get a bite to eat before saying goodnight.

It surprised him when the other man trailed fingers over his neck and asked, “Did you want to talk about your brother’s boyfriend situation?”

“God no,” Lucifer chuckled, raising his head and looking down at Kelvin. “Did you?”

The guy shrugged and folded his arms behind his head. “Just usually your migraines are during finals week and if you  _ do _ want any, you want to be on your back and you want it real slow. If I paid attention to these sorts of things I’d say that was more like the ‘ _ you’re angry at something _ ’ kind of sex.”

“Thank god you don’t pay attention to these sorts of things.”

“So, is the boyfriend not good enough for your brother, or  _ too  _ good for your brother?”

Lucifer pushed himself up and started fixing his clothes instead of answering.

With a long stretch and a soft smile, Kelvin sat up. “I’d say I know you two have a complicated relationship, but to be honest I didn’t even know you had a brother.”

“Two brothers. One sister.” Lucifer shrugged. “And yeah, complicated is a good word for it.”

“You want to vent while I look for my coffee mug?”

Lucifer said no, but while he followed the other man through the shelter he found himself rambling. “―and my brother  _ knew _ , he fuckin’ knew since New Years, if not since he first started dating Sam, that his boyfriend is the same gangly ass punk I keep running into at parties. And Mike listened to me bitching about this drunk idiot and never said a damn word. I told him about kissing the guy on New Years and how my sorry ass got shot down and then had to listen to Sam telling me about this amazing boyfriend that he had. Sam  _ thanked _ me for helping him find his awesome and fantastic and incredibly hot boyfriend. I tell my brother all about it and fuckin’ Michael doesn’t say a damn thing.”

It might have been a little incoherent, the words spilling out and his thoughts jumbled, even thought he’d spent most of today building a perfectly eloquent argument for why Michael was an ass for springing Sam on him like he did last night.

Kelvin took it all in with the patience of a saint, the coffee mug he’d found in the breakroom dangling from one hand as he let Lucifer rant.

But all that anger was short lived and once he got the words out, Lucifer felt a little embarrassed. “So yeah. I guess you were right. That was angry sex, not headache sex.”

“Seeing as it’s you? It was probably a bit of both.” Kelvin raised an eyebrow. “I’m curious though, if your brother told you who he was dating as soon as they started dating, then…?”

“I would have kept my fucking mouth shut.”

A beautiful grin spread over the other man’s face. “You know, a normal person might have decided to be pissed at their brother for ‘stealing their boyfriend’, but not you. No. You take the road less traveled and get mad because you accidently let your brother know you have feelings.”

Lucifer didn’t know which was worse, how stupid it all sounded when actually said out loud, or the fact that it was all very true.

With a smile that turned almost sympathetic, Kelvin reached out and straightened the ID card clipped to one of Lucifer’s pockets. “You want some free advice on something that’s none of my damn business?”

“I’m going to say no so I can keep what little pride I have left, but it’s with the hope that you’ll go ahead anyways.”

“I say make your peace, Luce. With yourself, and with your brother, and with his gangly ass gorgeous boyfriend.” 

It was actually good advice, and in the nature of most good advice, it wasn’t what Lucifer wanted to hear. 

Lucifer didn’t want to make peace with Sam. Nothing he wanted to do to Sam was even remotely peaceful. “If you saw him though, Kelvin, he’s- he’s fucking beautiful,” expecially when he laughed. Sam was unfairly gorgeous when he laughed, or when he frowned, or just existed. 

“Then hey, if you play your cards right you might end up with a fucking beautiful new friend.” Kelvin always had this way of speaking, warm and even, and hard to argue with. 

Not that he had ever shied away from arguing, but the other man was right. 

Lucifer just wished that he was a little better at making friends and knew how to start.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Today was less than stellar, so here's another chapter. This chapter made me laugh while writing it, so rereading it tonight helped me find my happy place. Hope it finds you well... you know... just in case you needed a little pick me up too.

Putting away the returned books seemed to be the other librarian’s least favorite part of the job, which Sam couldn’t understand. It meant he got to walk the isles, pushing a heavy cart, peacefully hanging out with all the school’s books. Sure, every now and then someone interrupted his quiet time by needing help finding something, but that was usually only a quick distraction and then he could get back to his slow wandering. 

The building was mostly deserted this time of night. Two other librarians down at the check out desk, and a scattering of students tucked into corners studying or on their laptops. It meant that Sam was basically alone up on the third floor, putting away reference books that had been left out, humming softly to himself-- nearly jumping out of his skin when he came around a corner and literally ran into another person. 

“S-sorry. I didn’t see you there… Lucifer?” Sam laughed awkwardly. “What are you doing here?”

Lucifer offered a small shrug and asked, “Looking for a book?” like he wasn’t sure if that was a good enough answer, or a believable enough lie.

“You don’t go to this school,” Sam hesitated to point out.

“Just because I don’t plan to eat doesn’t mean I can’t look at the menu.”

“I guess?” Sam had his doubts that the other man was here for a book, but the only other obvious reason he might be in the library this late at night was Sam himself. He didn’t mind a visit, if that’s what this was. Meeting again the night before had been odd and tense if nothing else. It might be nice to have a chance to talk. Just the two of them. 

Standing there in the isle for maybe too long without anything good enough to bother saying, Lucifer finally offered a hesitant, “Hi.”

“Hi,” Sam repeated, lightly drumming his fingers against the handle of his book cart. 

“You know, this is the first time I’ve seen you where you weren’t drunk or hungover.”

“Excluding last night,” Sam frowned, not liking how the other man was making it sound like him drinking was a much bigger problem than it actually was. 

“Last night didn’t count.” Lucifer took one of the books from Sam’s cart and flipped through the first few pages. “I was too mad at my brother to notice you―Look, I lied about being here for a book.”

“I’m shocked, Lu,” Sam took back the stolen book, sliding it onto the shelf where it belonged, trying not to laugh too much and encourage the other man. “What really brings you here?”

“It’s Mike’s birthday this weekend and―”

“ _ What _ ?” This was news to Sam and he frankly wasn’t sure what to do with it. He’d been dating the man almost half a year and never once had they discussed birthdays.

Lucifer pulled another book from the cart, defiant of the work Sam was trying to do. He thumbed the pages, biting his lip as he said slowly, “His birthday, it’s the eleventh, which according to my calendar is going to be Saturday.”

“He never mentioned it.” Sam took the second book as well, reading the spine and having to move down two shelves to put it away.

“Mikey… he doesn’t like a big fuss made over him. So naturally I want to do something for him.” A third book came off the cart, but this one he handed directly to Sam. “I thought you could help me make him a cupcake or something… and you think that’s funny?”

“ _ A _ cupcake? Just the one?” How was Sam not expected to laugh at something that crazy sounding? He took the book Lu was offering him, putting it away and waiting to be handed the next one. 

“He’s got a real sweet tooth, but you know… healthy eating and all that shit. But I think I can get away with tempting him just a little, if I’ve got your help.”

Sam pushed the book cart down the aisle, enjoying the help he was getting. Help he didn’t need, but liked all the same. “What do you need me to do?”

“Help me make the damn cupcakes. I’m sort of forbidden from touching the oven, and I kinda’ hoped you might know your way around a kitchen.”

“I’m an actual kitchen disaster,” Sam confessed, turning the cart to the next row and watching Lucifer following him. “But if you want help, I’m happy to try.”

“I  _ love  _ the confidence.” The other man nudged his cart all kinds of crooked, being a nuisance for no obvious reason. “When do you get off?”

Sam glanced at his watch while grabbing up the next armful of books. “Half an hour,” he looked back over his shoulder and raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

“To make the cupcakes. You know, I was hoping that sober you’d be a little faster on the uptake.”

“You want to make cupcakes tonight?”

“Yes,” the man said with a painstaking sigh.

“It’s almost midnight.”

Lucifer raked hands through his hair, which lifted the edge of his tshirt enough to show the curving lines of a tattoo along his hips. Whatever he said in answer to Sam’s smartass comment was lost in a confusing wave of distraction.

Awkwardly, Sam turned back to his books and refused to let himself ask for clarification because it would have been admitting that he’d been staring. 

“―and since his birthday is the day after tomorrow,” Lucifer kept going without missing a beat, “it’s the only chance I’ve got to make him something.”

“Alright,” Sam agreed, only half knowing what he was agreeing to. He glanced back, startled to see the other man smiling at him.

For what it was worth, it didn’t make Lucifer look any less exhausted, his eyes still that deep, sleepless and bruised color Sam remembered them always being. His short hair was still a mess, and his clothes wrinkled as if he’d only just rolled out of bed. But the smile was wonderfully crooked and made his eyes very bright, to the point he could have been mistaken for something near friendly.

Sam quietly thought he liked it better not knowing who Michael’s brother was.

That last half hour of work went by too fast, and before Sam really could digest what he’d agreed to, he was sitting in the passenger side of Lucifer’s pick up, backpack in his lap, staring out the rain flecked windshield. 

Digging his thumb into a small hole in the knee of his jeans, Sam let out a slow breath. “You get yourself a new spare tire at some point?”

“I did,” Lucifer chuckled, hardly more than a soft noise under his breath. “You remember that?”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“Because at the time you were drunk off you ass. You sure didn’t remember any of it during New Years when I was peeling you off the floor.” 

Sam kept picking at his jeans. “I don’t remember New Years.”

“Not at all?”

Shaking his head slowly, Sam let out another sigh. 

“Oh boy. It was so much  _ fun _ .”

From the sarcasm in the man’s tone, Sam had his doubts. “How stupid was I?”

“Like… on a scale of one to ten?”

“On a scale of last night’s dinner to Halloween,” Sam clarified.

“Oh, you weren’t nearly as sloppy as Halloween. Don’t worry about that.”

There was something that Sam had been worried about for months and he hated to ask, but he had to. “So, I didn’t kiss you again?”

Lucifer cleared his throat, turning down the street where him and his brother lived. “You’re so much better than that, Sam. You thanked me for helping you get home on Halloween, and for helping you figure out your whole gay…  _ thing _ . And then you told me about your fantastic boyfriend, and had me put my number in your cell phone because you didn’t want to lose me again―and then, your already drunk ass challenged me to shots and I let you win.”

“You  _ let _ me win?”

“Well, one of us had to stay sober enough to drive home.”

They rolled up into the driveway, the old truck rattling to a stop.

An awful weight had been taken from off Sam’s mind, and he turned in his seat to smile at the man beside him. “Just… you know, for the record, I’m not  _ gay _ .”

“Really?” Lucifer raised his eyebrows as he climbed out of the truck. “Because I’ve been listening to you and my brother going at it for  _ months, _ and I would have to disagree with you.”

Heat rushed to cover Sam’s cheeks. He’d never really considered that the other man might have been home on nights and mornings that he’d stayed over―and six months worth of embarrassment was a whole lot to deal with when it came at him all at once.

Blinking out at the house, and hoping it was dark enough that Lu wouldn’t see him blushing like a kid, Sam cleared his throat before saying, “I think I’m bi.” 

“Congrats. I’ll make you a bisexual colored cupcake tonight in celebration.”

Sam grinned. 

Michael had been making such a big deal for so long about how weird and awful his younger brother was, and for the life of him, Sam couldn’t figure out why. 

“So, uh, what flavor cake are we making?” He asked, following Lucifer into the quiet house, veering off to toss his backpack in Michael’s room.

“Pineapple upside down cake,” Lucifer called after him, flipping on lights as he went. “If I’m going to risk burning the house down, it’s gotta be for Mike’s favorite flavor.”

“I wouldn’t have guessed,” Sam admitted, coming into the kitchen.

“He seems more like a plain vanilla kind of guy, I know. My brother is boring as all hell,” Lucifer was pulling out all sorts of ingredients, making a chaotic landscape over the counter top.

At least half the things Sam was seeing most definitely didn’t belong in cupcakes.

“Hey, not to question you in your own home,” he leaned over the counter and lifted up the package of pepperoni, “but what the hell kind of cupcakes were we making again?”

The other man pulled his head from the fridge, that crooked smile of his in place as he tossed a package of already shredded cheese on the counter. “Still pineapple, but I went straight from my work to yours and haven’t had dinner. You eat toaster pizza?”

Though Sam had no idea what was being offered him, he felt stupidly inclined to trust the man crouched in front of the fridge. “Probably?”

“Atta boy,” Lu added a flash of teeth to that grin of his before going back to the fridge. 

As it turned out, ‘toaster pizza’ was slices of sourdough bread with pizza toppings, warmed up in the toaster oven. 

It wasn’t awful.

In fact, after his first bite, Sam’s stomach seemed to suddenly realise it was empty. 

He managed to eat a whole slice and a half before noticing that Lucifer was sitting across the table from him with a knee drawn up to his chest in the least comfortable way possible, chewing slowly on a crust of sourdough.

“I’m not complaining,” Sam started off, “because this is surprisingly good. But didn’t you say something about having your cooking rights revoked?”

“Just the  _ real  _ oven.” The tip of Lucifer’s tongue flicked out to clean a smear of red sauce from a finger. “Toaster oven doesn’t count. I’d have to make an actual effort to burn the house down with something that hardly gets hotter than a lightbulb.”

“And the grill doesn’t count either?”

“Michael’s terrified of it, and so it’s my job to do the outside cooking where, again, it would take extra effort to burn down the house.”

Sam reached across the table and tried to gently slide a third piece of pizza off the other man’s plate. It was a Dean sort of move to steal another man’s food, but Lucifer honestly looked like he wasn’t going to touch it, and Sam was still surprisingly hungry. “I feel like there’s a story here I’m not getting―” 

“Once upon a time I started an electrical fire while making nachos in the oven, and if you don’t get your hand off my food I  _ will _ bite you.”

Grinning in spite of himself, Sam retreated back to his side of the table, apologising softly.

Chewing now on the edge of his thumb, Lucifer watched Sam, no sign on his face that he was accepting of all the half hearted ‘sorries’.

“So… we were making cupcakes, right?” Sam asked in an effort to derail that steady and uncomfortable look. 

With an irritated noise, Lu pushed his plate towards Sam and got up, heading into the kitchen. “You’re a growing boy. Eat. And then come help me with the cupcakes.”

A request Sam wasn’t going to argue with because it simply wasn’t in his nature to turn down free food. 

That last slice of pizza was eaten quickly and he slid into the kitchen, washing his hands before peering over Lu’s shoulder to see where they were at in the baking process.

“I can stir,” Sam offed once he realised that this was a real and proper recipe from a book and not some easy box mix from the store. 

Despite the fact that Lucifer had legitimately invited him over tonight for the express purpose of helping him cook―the man seemed reluctant to hand over his wooden spoon. “I’ve already added the eggs and baking powder,” he said the words as if they meant anything, “so don’t… don’t get crazy with the stirring. Ok?”

“Yes, sir,” Sam took the spoon, pulling the bowl across the counter and closer to himself, stirring extra slowly because he had no other idea how to interpret his instructions. 

Lucifer measured out pineapple juice from a can, glancing back at Sam and snorting. “Alright now, smartass, don’t act like you’re afraid of it. It’s not going to hurt you.”

“You said be gentle. I’m being gentle.”

“There’s a difference between gentle and not fuckin’ doing anything. You’re making me feel sorry for my brother.”

A bark of a laugh escaped Sam. “Excuse me?”

“That was an innuendo,” he said, not meeting Sam’s eye as he emptied his measuring cup into the bowl. “You need me to explain it to you or...?”

“Nah, I got it,” Sam made light stabbing motions with his spoon, mumbling under his breath, “jerk.”

“Oh, come on,” Lucifer wrinkled his nose, laughing. “You can do better than that. If you’re going to call me names do it with  _ confidence _ , you gangly smartass.”

Sam shook his head, chuckling, running his tongue over his teeth before saying with very little emphasis, “You’re a bit of a jerk.”

“Please. I’m  _ a lot  _ of a jerk. I’m a massive jerk.” He gestured with his hands like a man who was describing a large fish that he’d caught. “Don’t go insulting me by playing it down. I work hard to maintain my reputation here.”

“Jerk face.”

“Oh, how will I ever recover from such a wound?”

Sam laughed harder.

“What are you, eight years old?  _ Jerk face _ ? Seriously?”

“I’m not going to stand around calling my boyfriend’s brother names,” Sam argued, grinning at Lucifer’s exasperated sigh.

“ _ Boyfriend’s brother _ . Wow. I hate it.” 

“Well, you are, aren’t you?”

“That’s what they tell me,” he sighed long and wistfully, “but not a day goes by I don’t pray that there was some mix up in the hospital when we were born.”

It was such a pitiful lament, Sam couldn’t help but laugh, his cheeks starting to hurt from how hard he was grinning.

“Alright, alright,” Lucifer jabbed Sam with a sharp elbow. “Laugh it up all you like, just keep stirring.”

Sam did as he was told. If nothing else, he was good at following directions. Which seemed good since Lu was more than happy to boss him around while they worked. 

And by the time the other man was sitting on the floor, digging through a low cabinet cluttered with pots and pans, Sam was slowly realising that he literally had done nothing at all to help other than hold the spoon. “You didn’t really need my help, did you?”

“Nope.” A pile of oddly shaped pans was starting to grow on the floor. “Just needed help with the oven so I don’t evoke the wrath of Michael.”

“ _ Wrath _ ,” Sam repeated, scooping cake batter up and watching it fall in wet drops back into the bowl. “He’s the nicest guy I know.”

“Yeah, well, he likes you.”

Frowning, Sam dropped the spoon, leaning against the counter and looking down at the long line of the other man’s back. “He likes you too.”

“Gross,” he complained from the floor, pulling out yet another wrong pan before finally singing, “Ah, here you are, my pretty,” and a cupcake pan was slammed onto the counter with a victorious noise. 

A very short lived victory as Lucifer shifted where he was sitting, frowning at Sam for a second before holding up his hands in a silent plea for assistance.

Sam chose not to tease, reaching out and grabbing the other man by the forearms and hauling him upright. He over calculated the other man’s weight though, or his own strength, or something― and stumbled back against the counter with an armful of very surprised blond man.

For a terrible, breathless moment neither of them said anything, just looking at one another with equally wide eyes. 

Sam spoke first, clumsily asking, “What happened to your lip?”

Stepping back until nearly half a kitchen stood between then, Lucifer reached up to thumb at the pair of thin white scars that hid under the curve of his lower lip. “I fell when I was a kid. Bit clean through it.”

“Ow,” was all Sam could think to say.

“Yeah, I don’t really remember it. I was like two. Apparently there was blood everywhere and it really freaked out my babysitter. Had to go get stitches and everything.”

Sam didn’t have any exciting scar stories to tell except for having his appendix removed, which he awkwardly kept quiet about instead of lifting his shirt to show off the battle wound the surgeon had given him. 

Looking stubbornly back at their work, Sam frowned at the pan that Lucifer had taken so very long to find. “Wasn’t the plan to make Mike just the one cupcake?” 

The other man followed his gaze and laughed. “Ok, but how big of a cupcake did you think we were making here? This recipe makes two dozen. I’m just taking the extras to work tomorrow.”

Which made infinitely more sense and Sam felt dumb enough to keep quiet. It was after one in the morning, and he needed to get some sleep before something inexcusably stupid happened. But he’d agreed to help man the oven, so he kept his post, leaning on the counter and watching the other man carefully putting pineapple rings in the bottom of each cup of the cupcake pan. Other things went in too, but Sam wasn’t a cook and didn’t have any great guesses. Mostly, he just relaxed until his time finally came and he was handed the very full pan.

“To the oven?” He asked, eyeing the pan nervously.

“You got it, Sammy.” 

“No one calls me that,” he grumbled and carefully put the cupcakes into the oven, grinning to himself once he closed the door behind them. He’d officially baked. He’d have to tell Dean next time they talked. 

With a little bounce of pride in his step, he turned back to the mess on the counters to help clean up―stopping when he saw that the other man had the mixing spoon in his mouth.

“Raw eggs,” Sam pointed out clumsily.

“They’re delicious,” Lucifer mumbled in a sticky voice with the spoon still in his mouth.

“You’ll get salmonella.”

The spoon came out with a soft  _ pop _ , the other man licking the corner of his mouth before saying, “Did Rocky Balboa get salmonella from all those raw eggs he had for breakfast? Fuck no. He drank his eggs, ran up some steps, and punched some guys. People going around saying stuff like that are people who are trying to keep all the cake and cookie batter for themselves.” With that, he scraped up another spoonful and defiantly put it in his mouth.

Sam rolled his eyes and started putting things back into the fridge. It was a short chore and he turned in a slow circle looking for something else to do while they waited for the baking to be done. Dirty dishes went into the sink, and then the only thing left was the batter smeared bowl being held out to him like an offer.

“Come on,” Lucifer whispered. “You know you want to.”

“Lu, I’m not―”

“You can call me Luci. My brothers are the only ones who call me Lu.”

Sam made a face. “ _ Lucifer _ ,” he leaned into the full name, “I know it’s got to be in your nature to go around trying to tempt people with fruit. But I’m gonna pass on the raw eggs and pineapple.”

The other man actually giggled, and it was possible that the late hour was getting to him too. “Ok, but I can picture the snake coming down to Eve with a spoonfull of cookie dough held in its tail, and it’s fuckin’ beautiful.”

A laugh started to bubble up in Sam’s throat and he did his best to keep it in, asking in a tight voice, “Are you done? Can I wash that?”

“No. I’m not done with it,” he hugged the bowl to his chest, noisily scraping up another spoonful while keeping a close eye on Sam. “You… you sure you don’t want to try some? I promise I won’t tell the raw egg police.”

No was still an option, but to be honest, Sam had always been curious about the taste of cake batter. It had to be good, otherwise they wouldn’t have made it into an ice cream flavor. 

Defeated, he took the spoon from the other man and tried the stupid cake batter so that they could move on with their lives. Sam didn’t have much of a sweet tooth, so it surprised him how good it actually tasted. Doing his best to hold back any hungry sounds, he only took two more licks before handing back the spoon and nonchalantly saying, “It’s ok.”

“It’s  _ delicious _ ,” Lucifer corrected, eyeing his spoon uncertainly like he considered it somehow contaminated now that it had been in Sam’s mouth.

“Fine, Satan,” Sam rolled his eyes. “I tasted your forbidden sallmonial fruit. Can we finish cleaning up and go to bed? I’ve got class in the morning.”

“I’ll finish cleaning up if you’re willing to hang out long enough to get the cupcakes out of the oven for me.”

“You’re serious that you’re not allowed to use it?”

“He would  _ know  _ somehow,” Lucifer glanced around suspiciously as if he expected to see his brother lurking in a shadow somewhere, “and I’d like to make it through a birthday without any lecturing or yelling.”

“That’s right. His birthday. I have to get him something.”

“Do you?” Lucifer seemed genuinely confused. “But we made him a cupcake.”

“It’s his birthday, Lu. I can’t just give him a cupcake that  _ you  _ made.”

“You helped. You  _ stirred _ ,” the man put far too much weight on Sam’s very small contribution in tonight’s endeavor. 

“I… I’m a bad boyfriend,” Sam realised. “I didn’t even know it was his birthday. What kind of boyfriend doesn’t know their significant other’s birthday?”

With an annoyed grumble, Lucifer put the bowl in the sink. “Don’t. Just don’t.”

Sam looked up, hair falling in his face, and he had no doubt he looked all kinds of pitiful.

“Michael isn’t into making a big deal about his birthday.”

“But it’s a birthday.”

“Then tell him happy birthday. Give the jerk a blow job if you gotta give him something. I’m just saying he’s not expecting a present so don’t get yourself in knots about it.”

Sam stammered, feeling warm all the way up to the top of his ears.

“Oh, get your panties out of a twist. Michael and me share a bedroom wall. The two of you have kept me up more than a few nights. You don’t really get to be shy about it.”

“Pretty sure I can,” Sam argued. “I-I didn’t know it was you in the other room.”

Lucifer’s eyebrows went up. “Would that have made some kind of difference?”

“No?” He looked at the dishes in the sink like it might help. “Yes? I don’t know? You’re my friend. It’s kind of… rude, I guess.”

Sam felt very lost, and very tired, and very confused at the unexpectedly soft smile the other man was giving him.

“We’re friends?” Lucifer asked with a curious tilt of his head. Before Sam could even answer, the man threw back his shoulders and chuckled happily. “I mean, you peel a drunk kid off the floor enough times, I guess you earn a fancy title like  _ friend _ .”

“Ok, that’s not what I meant though―”

“I know what you meant,” his voice softened as he reached out and ruffled a hand through Sam’s hair.

Making a face, Sam leaned away before laughing softly under his breath. “Don’t, weirdo. I… I’m going to bed.”

“Oven,” Lucifer sang the reminder, refusing to let Sam retreat before the job was done. “And then you need a shower.”

His movements slow and uncertain, Sam lifted the collar of his t-shirt and gave it a sniff, wondering if he had a smell. From the corner of his eye he saw the other man biting his lip to hold back a laugh.

“What?” Sam sighed, not looking forward to the answer.

“Your hair has  _ so much _ cake batter in it.”

“ _ What _ ?”

Lucifer raised a sticky hand, smiling as he waggled his fingers.

The timer for the cupcakes said there were only three minutes left. 

Which gave Sam three minutes to pick pineapple scented batter from his hair while coming up with better insults to throw at the laughing man beside him. 

\----

It was sometime in the early morning, when light was just starting to peek in through the bedroom curtains, that Michael crawled into bed beside Sam. And normally Sam was a pretty deep sleeper, but the kiss to his neck stirred him awake. 

“Hey, stranger,” Mike whispered as Sam slid a tired arm around him. “Haven’t seen you since last night.”

“Hey,” Sam smiled, rolling closer and finding a sleepy kiss. “Missed you.”

“Sure you did. I’m going to have to get you a spare key so you don’t have to wake up Lu. He can be a real bear.”

Yawning and closing his eyes, Sam murmured, “I didn’t. He picked me up from work.”

“Did he?”

“Yes?” The curiosity in the other man’s voice dragged Sam closer to awake. He wanted to tell his boyfriend about the birthday cupcakes, but realised that they might be a surprise, which gave Sam no good reason for how he got here.

“He sure does like giving you rides home, doesn’t he?”

“Yes,” Sam wished his tired brain was a little faster with the good answers. 

“Glad you two are getting along ok,” Michael stretched out long and closed his eyes, obviously settling in. “I thought you guys might.”

“I thought you thought he’d scare me off.” 

“All of the above,” Michael chuckled. “But mostly the jerk finally got himself in a semi serious relationship, so I don’t have to feel like I’m rubbing the fact that I have a boyfriend in his face.”

“That’s… that’s great for Lu.” Sam stumbled over the words, determined to smile and be happy for the man down the hall. 

“Great for all of us,” Michael agreed, stealing one more kiss before whispering, “Look, I’ve got to get some sleep. Maybe we can get lunch between your classes.”

“Yeah. Sounds good,” he agreed, settling back down, listening as Michael’s breaths very quickly evened out. Feeling frustrated for no reason he could understand, Sam laid there letting his tired thoughts chase each other around until he managed to fall back asleep with an arm still comfortably around Michael. 

It took a good chunk of the day for Sam to get his head straight, to get all the odd parts of last night in order. And even with all that, he decided not to have strong feelings on anything one way or the other―at least not where a certain blonde man was concerned. 

Problem was, if Sam wanted to be a halfway decent boyfriend where Michael’s birthday was concerned, he’d have to talk to Lucifer.

After his last class of the day, while walking back towards the dorms, he pulled out his second hand cell phone, ignoring the cracked screen and scrolling through his contacts. Sure enough, just like Lucifer had said the night before, his number was in there. Since New Year’s eve, Sam had had the means of calling the other man and just hadn’t known it. 

Which was one more fantastic reason to feel not great about things, and one more reason that Sam was going to stubbornly not worry about right now. 

Other than calling Dean a few times a week, Sam wasn’t really a phone talker, and he figured that most people weren’t, so it actually surprised him when Lucifer answer his call after only two rings.

“Midtown Animal Shelter, this is Luci.”

“Hi?” Sam laughed. “It’s… it’s Sam. Your brother’s boyfriend.”

“Yeah, I still hate that.” The other man laughed. “I’m at work, Sammy. What’s up?”

“I was wondering what, um, what are your thoughts on maybe having a surprise dinner for your brother tomorrow, you know, for his birthday.”

“I think he’d  _ hate  _ it,” Lucifer laughed again. “I’m in.”

“Great,” Sam wished that he felt a little more confident, but the other man’s obvious glee at the suggestion had him second guessing himself. “I thought maybe the four of us could go out to his favorite place.”

“Four of us?”

“Him, me, you… your girlfriend.”

The other end of the line got quiet for a beat and Sam pulled his phone back from his ear, glancing at the cracked screen to double check that he hadn’t lost the call. 

The seconds in the top corner were still counting away.

“I mean, just if you wanna?” Sam tried to sound cheerful and knew that he missed the mark.

But Lucifer cleared his throat before speaking up, “ _ Boyfriend _ . But yeah. Sure. The four of us. You think you can get him to the restaurant, or should I do it?” 

“I can.” Sam smiled at the phone, still very uncertain about this, but stubbornly going along with his own plans. “I’ll text you the details and see you and your… boyfriend tomorrow.”

“Yeah,” Lucifer took an audible breath. “Great. I… ok. Talk to you later,” the last words out in a rush before he hung up.

Sam was left holding the silent phone awkwardly for too long before tucking it away into his pocket. 

What had started off as a plan for a nice birthday double date had derailed so very quickly. 

Not that there should have been any difference in Lucifer having a boyfriend instead of a girlfriend, but the mental image clung to Sam for the rest of the walk to his dorm. 

Michael was so much harder to talk into the plan than his brother. 


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm trapped at a family function and updating via my phone.   
Anxiety is high and old people be hella racist and I want to fight a bear.   
Please send me nice things

“Come on,” Sam held both the other man’s hands, pulling him towards the front door, grinning. 

“I thought we could just cuddle on the couch. Study for a bit. Maybe fool around, seeing as we’ve got the place to ourselves.”

“Ok, all of that sounds fantastic, but also dinner. It’s the third most important meal of the day.”

Michael rolled his eyes, but he was smiling back.

He was slowly giving in, but as Sam glanced at the wall clock, they were running out of time for Michael to be charmed at the usual speed.

Sam raised their hands, lightly kissing Michael’s fingertips. “Come on,” giving the man his sweetest puppy dog eyes.

Michael pursed his lips, looking on the verge of caving in. “Can’t we go out tomorrow night?”

It was a good thing that they had the house to themselves tonight, because Sam never would have felt brave enough to keep going this way if Lucifer was in here with them. 

Keeping up that eye contact, Sam slipped one of Michael’s fingertips past his lips, sucking slowly before pulling back. “ _ Please _ ? Then we can come back and…  _ study _ for a bit.”

“I do like …  _ studying _ with you,” Michael grinned.

“I know you do,” he laughed softly. “Now come on. Shoes, wallet, and give me the keys. I’ll drive.”

With a warm chuckle and a shake of his head, Michael pulled his shoes on. 

Sam was lucky that the other man enjoyed occasionally being bossed around a little. He had no idea how he’d get Michael to the restaurant otherwise. 

It was the weekend, and it was a nice restaurant, so the parking lot was pretty full. Sam ended up having to park a street over, taking Mike’s hand and lacing their fingers together while they walked. 

“So,” Michael dragged the word out, the cold night air turning his breath into a silver cloud. “What’s with the fancy date night?”

“Nothing,” Sam lied easily. “I’ve got myself a nice job finally and a bit of money, and wanted to take you out.”

“No special occasion then?”

“Nope. I just like you,” which was only half of a lie and Sam didn’t even feel remotely bad for it. He used his free hand to pull out his cell phone, glancing at the one unread text waiting for him.

The front of the restaurant was just as packed as the parking lot promised. So many small groups of people loitering around, talking loudly, waiting for a table to open up. 

A dark haired woman at the front counter smiled tiredly up at Sam and Michael as they came in. “Hey, gentlemen. It’s going to be about a half hour wait. Can I get a name?”

“Actually,” Sam smiled back, “the rest of our group should already be here. Winchester, party of four?”

She looked over the little map at the reception desk and nodded to herself before looking up with another one of those practiced smiles. “Sure are. They’re in the back, if you’ll follow me.”

Sam started to, noticing that Michael was not moving. 

Squeezing the other man’s hand, Sam gave a tug. “Come on,” he urged gently, knowing the plea would almost definitely be lost in the noise of the restaurant. 

“Who else is here?”

“Come on.”

“Who else is here, Sam?”

“Don’t make me pick you up and carry you after the nice waitress,” Sam advised, tugging the increasingly reluctant man along behind him.

The waitress had slowed down to let them catch up, an odd smile on her face as she lead them, weaving through the many tables, towards the back of the restaurant. She stopped at a booth where a widely grinning Lucifer and a second man that Sam didn’t know were sitting. The woman set down two menus and nodded to the men still standing. 

“Have a look over your menus and your waiter will be along in a while to get your drink orders,” and she left, still very polite, but obviously in a hurry.

Michael stubbornly stood in place, glaring down at his brother. 

“Happy birthday, Mikey,” Lucifer held his arms out like he expected a hug.

Turning to look back at Sam, Michael’s sour expression softened only a touch. “He put you up to this?”

“No… I put it together,” and Sam was fairly certain that he shouldn’t be happy about this fact any more. “Come sit down? Be angry over drinks and a nice dinner?”

He took his hand from Sam’s to point an accusatory finger at his brother. “I’m blaming you for this somehow.”

“But your Sam just confessed it was all his idea,” Lucifer managed to look slightly offended, even if it seemed all for show.

“Yeah, but it doesn’t count because I know it’s your fault,” Mike said with some strange authority, just magically knowing, before sitting down and making room for Sam to sit beside him. 

Sam slid into the booth, not sure what feeling he should show, so he tried to keep his face pleasantly neutral. Searching for a safe space to look, he nodded to the man now sitting across from him. The guy was handsome, with dark skin, strong jaw, broad shoulders, very nice smile. He also had an arm resting along the back of the booth, nearly possessively around Lu’s shoulders.

It was the  _ boyfriend _ , and he was not at all what Sam had been picturing.

Still, he smiled and reached across the table. “Hi. I’m Sam.”

“Kelvin,” the other man said, holding out a hand in greeting. Sam took it, or course, the two of them playing nice and normal while the brothers beside them made faces at each other. 

“Nice to meet you,” Sam said along with some other pleasantries that rolled out of him without much thought.

There was only so much small talk to make though, especially since they knew nothing about one another, and their furious dates seemed to silently be demanding attention.

“Happy birthday,” Sam said firmly and unapologetically to Michael, leaning close until their shoulders touched, doing his best to diplomatically and gently break up the sibling death stare. 

It worked, Michael instantly relaxing and turning in his seat to smile softly as Sam. “Thank you, but you really didn’t have to.”

“I know. Lu said I shouldn’t… but it’s your birthday. We made you a cupcake.”

Lowering his eyes, every line of Michael softened in a very tender sort of embarrassment. “Thank you.”

Sam kissed his temple, sliding an arm around the back of the booth, mirroring how Kelvin was sitting, because apparently it was what a boyfriend was supposed to do. 

Michael relaxed and squared his shoulders, putting away all his irritation at his brother for later. Glancing from Sam, to Lucifer and then back, he asked curiously, “What did you and Lu make for  _ him _ ?”

“Nothing?” Sam felt his eyebrows draw together. “He took all the cupcakes but yours to his work.”

Michael frowned too, looking back at his brother before a knowing look passed over him. “And you told Sam today’s my birthday, but you left out the part where it’s your birthday too. Didn’t you?”

Grunting dismissively, Lucifer picked up his menu and simply didn’t answer the question. 

Before Sam could ask the obvious question their waiter materialised beside their table asking for drink orders. Two waters, an iced tea, and a beer. Lucifer had to show his ID to go along with his order, and their waiter smiled. 

“Happy early birthday, man,” the guy said in an almost congratulatory way as he handed the card back. “I’ll be right back with everyone’s drinks.”

“ _ Early _ birthday?” Kelvin chuckled, taking Lucifer’s ID from him before he could get it put away. 

“Yeah, well, Mom went into labor just before midnight,” Lu snatched back his driver’s license and shoved it into his wallet with more force than necessary. “He’s only six minues older, but technically born a day before me.”

Sam had been dating Michael for nearly half a year, and in that time the man had not simply forgotten to mention, but had to have deliberately avoided saying, “You two are twins?”

Michael and Lucifer both grimaced, making dismissive gestures with their hands―the exact same gesture.

And though Sam felt weirdly lied to, even though that wasn’t the case, Kelvin seemed to know what to say into the awkwardness.

“Well, happy birthday, Luci. You’re going to let me buy you dinner tonight.”

“Am I?”

Kelvin slid his arm from the back of the booth, his hand resting below the table top, very obviously on Lucifer’s leg. “I mean… I can think of other ways I could say ‘happy birthday’ if you wanted to get a little creative with it.”

Lucifer chuckled a very low, rich sound as a hint of color darkened his cheeks.

Sam cleared his throat.

Michael went for the less subtle option. “Knock it off, you two. We’re in public.”

Though Lucifer chose to stick his tongue out at his brother, Kelvin chose to smile apologetically, putting his hands up in surrender before turning to his menu.

With short and careful sentences the four of them discussed their orders, taking recommendations from Michael because he was the only one of them that had ever been here before. And though there was a little arguing about whether or not Lucifer needed to be watching how much red meat he was eating, they all knew what they wanted by the time their waiter was back with their drinks. 

And then it was only four slightly awkward men  _ not  _ celebrating anyone’s birthday, in the corner of a crowded restaurant.

It was good that Michael was with them, because Sam felt at an utter loss at what to say for the first time in his life, and it was very possible that Lucifer was completely incapable of polite socialisation. 

“So, Kelvin, do you work at the animal shelter too?”

Lucifer’s date smiled an utterly charming smile then momentarily distracted Sam from the answer of, “Only on Wednesdays, or special emergencies. I’m a vet at a clinic in midtown.”

“Yeah?” Michael lit up. “I’m a people doctor… in training at least. I’m half way through all my clinicals, then if I can pass my tests I get to go into residency.”

“Oh yeah?” Kelvin leaned forward on his elbows. “What are you studying?”

“Right now it’s general medicine, but I’m planning to go into pathology―”

Which launched the two men into a complicated conversation about med schools and the odd similarities between animal and people medicine. 

Sam was only able to follow half of it, and the half that made sense was all things that he’d learned from watching Doctor Sexy with his older brother. He glanced over at Lucifer sitting diagonally across from him in the booth. The blonde looked up from where he’d been slowly stripping the label from his otherwise untouched beer, offering Sam a confused half smile. 

Shrugging, Sam smiled back, chuckling as Lucifer returned the gesture-- apparently neither of them were capable of following along. Seeing as Michael had come into the restaurant bristaling, it was something of a relief to see him relaxed and enjoying himself. 

But where as Sam was willing to let the other men ramble on about how frustratingly long it took to get lab results back sometimes, Lucifer seemed less inclined to be excluded from the conversation.

“Man, I’m loving how it’s all medical mumbo jumbo talk and Sam and I can just relax and space out,” he said while thunking his beer bottle on the table. “It’s the  _ best _ .”

With something close to an apologetic laugh, Micheal smiled at his brother. “I mean, we can always talk about more relatable things for you Lu, like...healthy eating, or getting enough sleep at night―I know that’s one of your favorites. Oh, or going to the gym?”

Lucifer put a hand to his chest, “Those  _ are _ all my favorite things, Mike. Wow. Can we also talk about algebra?”

While the brothers were busy making faces at one another, Kelvin caught Sam’s eye. 

“You’re not in medical then I’m guessing?”

“Pre-law,” Sam confessed.

“Feelings on algebra, healthy eating, or the gym?”

Sam grinned. “Thankfully all done with my math units, I do like a good salad, and Mike and I try to get out to the fitness center on campus at least once a week.”

“Yeah?” For only the smallest moment, Kelvin’s dark eyes moved over Sam. “Wednesdays Luci and me get a little cardio in after work, but I’ve never been able to talk him into coming to the gym with me.”

“Ok,” Lucifer butted in, “but I’m not about to pay monthly fees just for the privilege of hurting myself in a big building that smells like other people’s sweat.”

“If it hurts you’re doing it wrong,” Michael pointed out. 

Lucifer rolled his eyes.

“You can always come with us one night,” Sam suggested, suddenly feeling very awkward as the three other men looked at him. “Michael uses more of the equipment and stuff that you could hurt yourself on… if that’s what you’re worried about, but you can always run on the track with me instead.”

Before Lucifer could put words to the very strange look he was giving Sam, Kelvin spoke up, “The four of us could go together.”

“Oh!” Michael grinned at the prospect, and it would have been cuter if his brother wasn't sitting across from him with a contrasting look of horror. “If you two have Wednesday nights free we could definitely figure something out―Sam’s got afternoon classes and I have clinic duty in the mornings.”

Workout plans started coming together but were put on pause as their waiter brought out dinner.

The food pleasantly lived up to expectations, Sam digging in, and very nearly forgetting what they’d been talking about. 

And it would have been too easy to simply enjoy his food, but someone kicked Sam’s ankle under the table, not hard but deliberate enough to get his attention, forcing Sam to look questioningly at the other men.

Lucifer removed any mystery as to who the kicker might be, sitting there watching Sam with a frown. “Do you two really actually go and work out once a week?”

“I mean, we try to?” Sam wasn’t quite sure how to answer that.

“And here I thought you just had some crazy growth spurt these past few months. You were a bean pole when I first met you.”

“Was not,” Sam tightened his shoulders, feeling a little self conscious.

“I’ve hauled your skinny, drunk ass out to my truck twice now, and you were definitely heavier and harder to handle the second time around.”

“Thank you?” Sam glanced at Michael and found no support or sympathy, his boyfriend only smiling around his fork, obviously trying to hold back a laugh.

“You know…” Lucifer leaned back in his seat, sizing Sam up, “not sure I could pick you up now.”

“All the more reason to come to the gym with us, Lu.” Michael grinned.

“You think my fitness goal should be... to be able to pick up your boyfriend?” Lucifer asked haltingly.

“A man’s got to have goals,” Kelvin nodded wisely.

Lucifer turned to the man beside him, looking utterly betrayed. “Whose side are you on exactly?”

“Obviously whichever side is more entertaining,” Kelvin confessed with no shame whatsoever.

Michael snorted softly before sharing a grin with the other man― and it was obvious that they’d met a kindred spirit, someone else who enjoyed giving Lucifer a hard time. 

Though he turned to give the object of their teasing a sympathetic look, Sam was surprised to see that Lucifer was once again sizing him up.

Sam raised an eyebrow and earned himself a rather unapologetic shrug in answer.

“I could try after dinner,” Lucifer offered slowly.

To which Sam had to counter with a dubious, “You could also not.”

“We could always get you drunk first?” Lucifer raised his eyebrows, somehow making his suggestion seem almost innocent and legitimate.

Kelvin looked between Sam and Lucifer, smiling. “I feel like I’m missing something.”

Surprisingly, it was Michael who lit up, leaning forward to make himself the center of the other men’s attention. “Lu didn’t tell you how they met? Ok, so, this last Halloween―”

Sam sank as low as the booth and his lanky frame would allow, sheepishly eating his food while listening to his boyfriend excitedly telling the story of Sam and Lucifer’s first meeting like it was the plot to his favorite movie.

In the corner of their booth, Lucifer looked to be doing about the same, obviously not liking having to listen to himself described as some kind of nice guy who went around helping people. As the story went on, Sam listened less and less, ignoring his meal while watching Lucifer’s frown deepened and his cheeks getting darker and darker.

It was embarrassing all the way around, the way that Michael and Kelvin were both laughing happily the the other two’s discomfort. 

Only, Sam hadn’t ever told Michael about Halloween, at least not in any clear detail, because his memories of that night were shot to all hell. Which meant that Michael had heard this story from someone else all together. 

And in his corner, Lucifer looked more and more like he wanted to disappear. 

At the end of the night, both brothers seemed reluctant to let their dates pay for the meal. 

To which Kelvin and Sam both kindly told them to ‘shut up’.

If this was the only gift that Sam was able to give his boyfriend, then he sure wasn’t about to let himself get talked out of it, regardless of how much Mike tsked and tried to take the bill from him.

Walking out into the cold night air, Sam kept a suspicious eye on the man who’d been joking on picking him up. They didn’t know each other well enough for Sam to tell how much of a joke it had really been, and the last thing he wanted right now was an indignant wrestling match in a parking lot. 

Those odd threats seemed far from Lucifer’s mind now, as he sounded oddly focused in his quiet conversation with Kelvin. 

Sam only caught a word here and there, something about ‘ _ fuck the gym’ _ and ‘ _ one date’ _ .

“Hey,” Michael called over his shoulder as he slid a hand into Sam’s. “You guys headed back home too?” 

“No,” Lucifer said quickly.

Kelvin speaking over him with a too wide smile, “You know, Luci, all the time we’ve been together and I don’t think I’ve ever been to your place.”

“Really?” Lucifer’s smile was oddly tight. “I hadn’t realised that.”

“Well then I’m inviting you,” Mike said in that welcoming and easy manner he had. “I’ve heard rumor there might be a cupcake.”

“How can I say no to a cupcake?” Kelvin grinned back so charmingly.

Sam almost felt bad for how much enjoyed watching Lucifer put his face in his hands with such aggravated surrender.

The other men beat them back to the house, one of the advantages of having been able to park beside the restaurant instead of a few blocks away. Not that Sam had minded the walk. Even with the cold spring night air making him wish he’d brought a jacket, the quiet time alone with Michael was wonderful after all the noise of the restaurant. 

With the extra car out front and the lights on in the windows, Sam wasn’t surprised when Mike opened the front door and they found the other two men immediately inside the house. What was surprising was the way that they were wrapped around one another with very little regard to the sudden company.

Closing the front door behind them much louder than necessary, Mike announced, “I like a good peep show as much as the next guy, but I’ve heard rumors of a cupcake.”

Pulling away from Kelvin, hands still resting on the man’s chest, Lucifer smiled a sloppy smile, saying, “You don’t even like sweets.”

“I don’t like my birthday either, but here we all are.” Michael lightly slapped the back of his brother’s head before going into the kitchen. “Now where did you hide these cupcakes?”

As it turned out, pineapple upside down cake was Lucifer’s favorite flavor, not his brother’s, and for some reason this also did not surprise Sam. 

The finished cupcakes didn’t actually taste as good as the cake batter had, and for that reason, Sam didn’t feel too disappointed that the rest of the plate of goodies would be going to work with Lucifer the next day. 

“We’d been talking in the car,” Kelvin started while keeping very determined eye contact with his boyfriend, “that since this is a double birthday we could make it a proper double date. Dinner and a movie… if you two are ok with that of course?” He tilted his head towards Mike and Sam, hopeful. 

It wasn’t a bad offer, and it seemed that no one else had solid plans for tonight, so there was no good excuse to not let Lucifer pick out a movie for them, despite his track record.

The brothers obviously didn’t plan on having company over all that often, if their furniture was any indication―something that Sam had never really considered before because it was always just him and Michael tucked together on the loveseat. Now there were four people and only proper sitting room for three seeing as the armchair by the window could be used if the small pile of coats were removed from it. 

Frowning while he considered getting a chair from the table, Sam let out a startled yelp as Mike caught him around the hips and dragged him backwards onto the loveseat.

“If I’ve got to acknowledge my birthday then I’m going to do it while sitting on the good seat,” Michael slid arn arm around Sam’s shoulders and sank into the little couch, “and next to my boyfriend.”

Sam certainly didn’t want to argue, but that didn’t stop him from gesturing with a wave at the singular other seat.

One of the things that he liked best about his boyfriend was his ability to read minds. 

Michael placed a slightly pineapple scented kiss on Sam’s cheek before saying, “They are grown ass men. Let them figure out their own seats.”

“Indeed we can,” Kelvin agreed, scooping up the coats and setting them onto a little side table, before draping himself over the armchair and patting his lap while looking over at the last man standing. 

“Real cute,” Lucifer said in the least encouraging way possible while going back to his self appointed task of getting the movie set up and all the house lights turned off. 

The movie started, and Sam didn’t even have to ask what it was, he recognised the first few seconds instantly. They were watching the original Halloween, which was probably a joke to Lucifer considering all of Michael’s animated storytelling during dinner. 

“You and your horror movies,” Michael complained, obviously recognising the film as well.

“I can pick whatever movie I want. It’s my birthday too,” Lu complained right back. 

“Not until tomorrow it isn’t.”

The level of petty sibling sniping was oddly comforting to Sam, making him think of his own brother. The set up they had here was obviously a little different than back home.

“Come here, you beautiful disaster,” Kelvin urged Lucifer, patting his lap again.

“You know, this is the first time I’ve really  _ wanted _ to sit on the floor,” the man complained like he honestly thought that the other men in the room couldn’t see him smiling. Despite his protests though, Lucifer sat himself sideways on the arm of the chair, resting his knees against the man’s chest, feet pushing against the other arm of the chair, the long line of his back bowed forward―winning himself the award for least comfortable looking way to share a seat with another person. 

Sam had himself a soft chuckle and settled against the warmth of Mike’s side, the man’s arm heavy around his shoulder. It was a nice shift from their usual positions, Sam being the smaller spoon for tonight. He didn’t mind it at all. 

What he did mind however, was that itch on the back of his neck, that prickle that came with the feeling that he was being watched. 

He actually hated that feeling, like he hated the way that each time he’d glance away from the movie he’d see Lucifer watching him. And the man had deep eyes to begin with, in the dark it was almost impossible to tell where he was looking except for when a spark of brightness from the movie would catch in his eyes and suddenly it was him and Sam staring at one another from across the room.

Best guess that Sam could come up with was that the other man was jealous over their seating arrangements. Narrowed gaze and wishing that he’d been quicker and claimed the couch for himself. 

Seeing as the movie was one of his own brother’s favorites, Sam had a difficult time focusing in on it and ignoring the simmering blond sitting a few feet away. What did end up helping as a nice distraction to keep Sam from squirming in his seat was the way that Michael tensed at each little jump scare.

“Haven’t you seen this before?” Sam whispered.

“I think maybe once,” he whispered back, lingering with his face hidden against Sam’s cheek for a little longer than necessary. 

They obviously weren't quiet enough through, Lucifer adding some clarity to Michael’s uncertain statement, “He had his eyes closed the whole time.”

To which Michael very maturely made mocking ‘ _ meh meh meh _ ’ sounds back at his brother. 

Lucifer had to stick his tongue out.

Michael had to flip him off very casually.

In an effort to keep things from escalating, Sam rested a hand against his boyfriend’s chest, following the V of his shirt collar with one finger. It did the trick. Michael turning his face back to Sam’s and letting their noses touch before relaxing and going back to watching the movie. 

Or at least going back to the movie. 

Relaxing was more of a distant hope for either of the men on the couch.

In the movie, Laurie’s friend was doing some night time laundry wearing nothing but a shirt, with the boogie man lurking creepily outside―and here in real life Michael was growing increasingly more tense and Sam was starting to get that itch on the back of his neck for the tenth time.

Not being able to help himself, Sam let his attention flit from the screen to the armchair and quickly found himself unable to return to the movie. 

Those pinpoints of light were once again fixed in his direction, Lucifer’s eyes mostly closed and seeming very unfocused as his head had fallen to one side. Sam didn’t think he’d ever seen the man so relaxed as in that moment, while Kelvin slowly kissed the underside of his jaw up towards his ear. In a very private and not meant for public consumption sort of way, Lucifer’s chest hitched and he bit his lower lip.

Sam was just about to look away, out of politeness and for about a million other reasons, but found himself horribly sidetracked by the way that Kelvin so effortlessly turned Lu’s face towards his with only a finger to the edge of his mouth and then the two were kissing.

And even if Sam had no part in it, as a bystander he could say objectively that it was some very good making out. Lots of slow and easy open mouthed kisses broken with occasional smiles or the snap of teeth. 

As much as it embarrassed him, Sam was grateful for the girl in the movie getting strangled, because of the way that it absolutely horrified the man beside him. Michael drew his legs up onto the couch, toes curling, pressing back into the cushions the whole time the girl kicked and gasped and died so very slowly.

Once the awful choking ended, the man glanced nervously at Sam, almost as if he were worried that his boyfriend might have noticed the whole overreaction. 

Unfortunately, Sam could only pretend that he hadn’t noticed one of the situations that were being currently had, and Michael didn’t win that toss up. Sam shrugged and smiled as if to say ‘yeah, movies can be spooky’ and leave it at that.

He hadn’t even noticed that he’d turned back towards the armchair until he got himself a sharp smack in the center of his chest. Looking back at Michael, Sam felt heat rising up his neck and cheeks, and was very thankful that the room was mostly dark. 

“ _ What _ ?” He mouthed in a way that he hoped came off very innocently and not at all like a man who had just been watching the way his boyfriend’s brother kissed.

Michael had no comment, at least not any verbal ones. Whatever he had to say to Sam was all in the rise of his eyebrows and the tilt of his head, the half smile that turned into a grin before turning into a kiss that was as searching as a question. 

A question that Sam didn’t take all that long to think over. 

As far as he was concerned, Michael was looking for a good distraction from a movie that was obviously outside of his comfort zone, and Sam was nothing if not determined to be a good boyfriend to this man. If that meant kissing instead of watching teenagers getting slaughtered, well, it was a sacrifice he was willing to make. 

He and Mike had made out on this couch plenty of times, but never before with other people in the room, which was something that Sam mostly wasn’t paying attention to. 

And really, it only got easier and easier to forget about anything else going on as Michael ran a hand through Sam’s hair, and Sam coaxed a beautifully hungry sound out of the other man as he pushed him back against the cushions.

Unfortunately, the sounds of Lucifer falling off the armchair were enough to put the brakes on things. Sam turned, blinking in confusion at the mix of deep laughter filling the room over the drama and screams on the television. Lucifer had obviously tried to catch himself as he fell, but hadn’t done a very good job, his legs still on Kelvin’s lap and hooked uselessly over one of the chair’s arms, but the rest of his body was spilled haphazardly onto the floor.

“You guys ok?” Michael asked with only the slightest hint of concern in his voice.

“Yeah,” Lucifer’s laugh was hardly more than a hiss of breath as he pushed his hands over his eyes, “amazing.”

Kelvin took his time chuckling with that rich voice of his, petting slowly up the length of Lu’s legs before pushing him the rest of the way off the chair and offering a hand to help him up. 

Getting to his feet and dusting himself off, Lucifer simply didn’t sit back down, instead pulling his boyfriend along behind him, leaving the room to vanish down the hall.

“Good night?” Michael called after them with a questioning laugh.

Some sort of mumbled reply came back but the words were anyone’s guess.

Michael grinned at Sam with only a touch of awkwardness on his face. “So… you mind if we change the movie?”

Startled laughter curled through Sam. “Ok, not what I was expecting, but yeah. We can change it to something else.” He slid from the couch to go hunt for the remote, tossing it to his waiting boyfriend. 

Settling back down wasn’t the easiest thing to do however. In the sudden quiet as the movie was cut off, aside from Michael’s soft humming, were the not nearly faint enough sounds from the other two men in the house. 

“You know,” Sam cleared his throat, sinking back down onto his side of the couch, “your brother said the walls were thin and I thought he was joking.”

Letting his head fall to the side, resting on Sam’s shoulder, Michael simply said, “It’s good for him.”

Sam found he wasn’t as quick to agree.

“He was hung up on someone else for a long time.” Michael scrolled idly through what Netflix had to offer, “I was so glad to hear when he finally started dating again.”

“Kelvin... seems nice,” Sam said said after wracking his brain for something constructive to say about the situation he found himself in. 

“Right?” If it bothered Michael at all to hear the eager moaning from down the hall, it didn’t show. “So, documentary, or action movie?”

Sam cleared his throat, glancing towards the hall after a particularly encouraging bout of profanity. “Whichever one is louder.”

“Action movie it is,” Michael made his selection, tossing the remote aside and tilting his head up towards Sam’s. “You know, if you want… we could always make a little noise of our own.”

“I-um… uh,” Sam laughed, only a little nervously. “I mean, I’m not going to say no.”

Michael grinned a grin that Sam had never seen before, and Sam discovered that his boyfriend could be oddly competitive about oddly unexpected things.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and this marks the end of my backlogged chapters, but hey, another rough day and I'm finally home so here you are, my friends.  
hope you have a good night, or a good morning, or wherever you are.   
Thanks for coming along with me, getting to write for you guys keeps me sane

It was strange waking up beside someone, stranger still when Lucifer realised it was Kelvin. He laid there for nearly a full minute before his sleepy brain caught up with the night before. 

The other man was on his stomach, comfortably propped up on his elbows, reading something on his phone. Glancing over, the Kelvin’s eyes softened in a smile. “Morning.”

“Yeah.”

This was already awkward.

Kelvin seemed willing to try and ignore it though, opting for traditional morning sorts of questions. “You sleep alright?”

“Yeah,” he rubbed the corners of his eyes, yawning. “Don’t take this the wrong way, Kel, but why are you still here?”

“Using your phone charger.”

“I see that. Thought you had work though.”

“I do. But it’s not even six-thirty. I don’t need to be in for a while still.”

“Oh god, it’s too early,” he grumbled and rolled face down into his pillow, not at all sure why his body had decided to wake up in the first place.

“You can go back to sleep, Luci,” Kelvin chuckled.

“Nah. It’s like manners or something. Pretty sure if you fall asleep next to someone then you’re supposed to be awake with them in the morning.”

“I’m honestly not sure you currently qualify as awake.” Kelvin chuckled, the bed dipping as he shifted around and sat up. “Think I heard your brother getting up a bit ago. I’ll see if he can let me out and you can go back to sleep.”

Lucifer raised his head, frowning. They’d talked about this last night on the drive to the house. The answer was still no. “He is dating someone and they are happy and you’re keeping your hands to yourself.”

“What hands? I just want a coffee.” Kelvin grinned. 

Lucifer hummed in soft irritation, sitting up and trying to get his bearings. “You behave yourself around Mike or…” he couldn’t think of a single good threat. That is how tired he was.

“You know,” Kelvin grinned, awake and functional and far too smug about it, “that Sam is pretty cute too. I get why you were upset the other day.” 

Making a sound too close to crying, Lucifer drew his knees up and hid his face. “Right?”

“You’ve got your work cut out for you.”

“I hate it so much.”

“Well, next time you want a chaperone because you don’t trust yourself around Sam, I’m more than happy to go on another fake date with you so I can sit and admire that fine brother of yours.”

“Please don’t.”

Laughing, Kelvin slid off the bed and pulled on yesterday’s clothes. “So, I was texting with Michael, and we were thinking that Wednesday right after work would be best.”

Very uneasily, Lucifer looked up from his knees. “Best for  _ what _ ?” 

“All of us hitting the gym.”

“You know, I suddenly really, really wish I was dating you so I could dump your ass.”

“Come on. A little running is good for you.”

“I never agreed to this.”

“Good for the metabolism and for your brain chemicals―you know, really get those endorphins going. It’s good for what ails. You’ll love it.”

“I don’t have  _ ails _ . What I have is a problem named Kelvin.”

“Luci, you called me up yesterday begging me to be your emergency pretend boyfriend, because that hot young thing dating your brother asked you out on a birthday double date and apparently you’re physically incapable of telling him no. The problem you’ve got going on has nothing to do with me.”

It would have been fantastic if Lucifer could deny any part of that. 

Instead he pressed his forehead against his knees and let out a long and frustrated sound.

“Come on, Luci. Be strong. Stick with it. Cute new friend.”

“ _ Gorgeous _ new friend that I want to eat for breakfast.”

Kelvin snorted a sharp laugh, warning, “Watch yourself now.” 

Chuckling in a way that hurt his chest, Lucifer shook himself off and clamored out of bed.

Small and large disappointments in himself would have to be put on hold for a moment. He needed to get dressed, maybe get some coffee in himself, and send Kelvin on his way before the man somehow made promises for them both to go on some awful couples retreat or something with Michael and Sam. 

Kelvin hesitated at the front door, a confused little smile in place as he offered, “Happy birthday by the way.”

“Thanks,” Lucifer shook his head, smiling back. They weren’t close friends by any stretch of the imagination. He’d learned more about this man last night listening to him talking to Michael than he’d learned in the almost year that they’d known each other―but Lucifer appreciated this man in ways he didn’t know how to quite vocalise, because honestly, he couldn’t think of a single other person who would have agreed to what he’d asked of this man. “And thanks for last night?”

Shaking his head, Kelvin just laughed. 

Lucifer shrugged.

“Are we… do we kiss goodbye?”

They never had before, and making a face, Lucifer shrugged again.

Kelvin, looking equally unsure, stepped in until their chests brushed, kissing Lucifer in a soft sort of way that they had absolutely never kissed before. Both men pulled back with an awkward frown.

“No.”

“No,” Lucifer agreed. “I’ll catch you on Wednesday though.”

“Oh definitely. And bring running shoes, because we’re all going to work out afterwards.”

“I would rather die, thanks.”

Kelvin left laughing, like he knew that despite all his protests, Lucifer would be there at the gym next week all the same. 

Still mostly asleep, but determined to start his day now that he was up, he went down the hall and opened the bathroom door. The shower was running and he called to his brother as he pulled out his toothbrush, “Sorry for last night, Mike. I know you hate it, but surprise party was revenge for surprise Sam―so we’re even now.” He brushed and, seeing movement from the corner of his eye, looked up into the mirror where he saw not Mike but Sam peeking out at him.

“You, um, want me to tell him that for you?”

Lucifer swallowed an unfortunate amount of toothpaste and had to brace his elbows against the edge of the sink while he gagged and spit his mouth clean. 

“Mike’s already at work, isn’t he?” He finally asked.

“No. He’s doing the lab portion of his pathology midterm early and then he’s got work later this morning.”

“Right. I should know that.” Lucifer turned on the tap and rinsed his mouth out.

“Lu?”

“Mmhm?”

“You mind leaving for a second so I can get out of the shower?”

Wiping his mouth on the sleeve of his shirt, he muttered apologetic sounds and let himself out, closing the door firmly behind him. He had not even half as much time as he needed to get his thoughts together before the door opened back up and he stumbled backwards into an equally surprised Sam.

A towel wearing, partially damp Sam, who was very bare chested and had put on a pleasant amount of muscle tone at some point. 

It was the worst thing that had happened to Lucifer in recent memory.

They both said ‘sorry’ a half a dozen times, awkwardly dancing around each other in an attempt to not be in the way. 

Sam, who clearly had better self control, finally grabbed Lucifer by the shoulders and physically moved him out of the way. Laughing and looking up through his still lightly dripping hair, he offered, “Shower’s all yours if you want it.”

And the thing was, a shower had not been in Lucifer’s morning plan necessarily, at least not until after coffee―but he didn’t have that thought until he was in the middle of washing his hair. “Damn it,” he whispered, simply disappointed in himself. He’d blame the combination of a late night and an early morning instead of Sam’s dimples. He’d blame pretty much anything he could for his less than focused mental state, as long as it kept him from thinking about nearly naked Sam fresh from the shower, grinning at him.

He tried to keep his shower short, which had nothing to do with his uncertainty with how long Sam would be hanging around this morning. One thing he noticed very quickly however, was that his towel was missing. So, dripping water on the bathroom floor he cracked the door open, calling, “Sammy, you stole my towel.”

Sam’s head popped out of Michael’s room, a confused and apologetic smile coming easily. “Sorry, I didn’t think… it’s the one I normally use.”

“Can you grab me a new one? Hall closet.”

Sheepishly, Sam came out, wearing only a pair of Michael’s sweatpants, and passed Lucifer a clean towel. 

‘Thank you’ might have been the right thing to say, but Lucifer knew himself well enough to not open his mouth right then, instead taking the towel and firmly closing the door. He didn’t even care if it seemed rude. He could apologise later once he had clothes on.

When they both had clothes on. 

This was all actually worse than Sam happily having a boyfriend―because it was also Michael happily having a boyfriend, a nice guy for once, someone who obviously was treating him right, which meant that Lucifer was determined to purge all temptations from his mind. A task obviously easier to do once he was safely in his room, dry and dressed, and absolutely not hiding.

“Hey,” a tapping came at his door, “you want coffee?”

“I would kill a man for some coffee.”

“Ok, raincheck on the murder, but I’ll keep you in mind if I ever need someone taken out.”

Opening his door, Lucifer found himself once more face to face with Sam who had mercifully put a shirt on.

“I was also throwing some clothes and stuff in the wash, if you wanted to…” Sam shifted awkwardly, this tall and lovely puppy. “Or no?”

“It’s just weirdly domestic.” He ran a hand through his hair, smiling at the strangeness of it all. “Is this what you and Mike get up to when I’m sleeping in in the mornings?”

“Yeah,” Sam smiled back. “For the past couple months at least. You’re a really deep sleeper.”

“Yes I am,” Lucifer wasn’t going to mention all the times that he knew his brother’s boyfriend would be over and he’d fallen asleep with his headphones on, accidently over sleeping his alarm. 

“And you work  _ really  _ late.”

Lucifer also wasn’t going to mention that he purposely stayed out as late as possible so he’d miss having to hear the sexy times going on down the hall from him. “Yeah, well. I do a lot of the admin stuff at the shelter, and that’s easier to do when there’s no one else around.”

“Oh.”

“I heard rumors of coffee?”

“Right!” Sam laughed awkwardly and took himself to the kitchen, glancing over his shoulder only twice to make sure that he was being followed. 

It would be a lot easier to think of the guy as a friend if Lucifer didn’t find him so unbearably cute, and also if those stolen sweat pants didn’t make his ass look so very nice.

“So, uh, you’ve got work later?” Lucifer shamelessly followed, enjoying the view while it lasted.

“No.” Sam already had two mugs sitting on the counter waiting for them, and he handed one to Lucifer. “It’s Sunday. Library’s closed… I don’t know how you like your coffee.”

“It’s fine,” he slid past Sam, getting the coffee creamer from the fridge. “I’m not complaining here, but are you going to just be hanging around this morning?”

Sam shifted, blowing on his mug and not drinking any. “Yeah? I still don’t have a car, so I’m sort of stuck until Michael gets back―oh, but if you didn’t, um, I mean, I can get out of your hair as soon as my clothes are out of the dryer.”

“No. No. It’s ok,” Lucifer was quick to try and keep Sam from leaving. “I don’t mind the company,” even though part of him thought it might have been nice to offer Sam a ride home.

“Did you have any plans for today?”

Lucifer looked up from where he was over stirring his coffee. 

“Because it’s your birthday…” Sam tried to clarify. 

“Oh. No.”

“But… it’s your birthday.”

Lucifer didn’t like the upset tilt to Sam’s mouth, it made him wish he had some sort of exciting plans because apparently he was supposed to. “Maybe watch a movie?”

“Oh! What are we going to watch?”

_ We _ .

Lucifer hated and loved that Sam instantly included himself, but who was he to argue.

“Something scary,” because Michael and Gabriel both absolutely refused to watch horror movies with him. “And we’re having ice cream for breakfast.”

“Really?”

“It’s my birthday, so yes. It’s got a dairy, and chocolate comes from a bean so it’s practically a vegetable, super healthy stuff.” Lucifer didn’t believe in half assing things. If he was going to celebrate his birthday then he’d do it the right way. Even if Sam seemed reluctant to curl onto the couch beside him with two spoons and a blanket.

“Are you cold?” Sam asked, hesitantly holding up the side of the blanket he’d been handed.

“It’s still winter and I’m eating ice cream, damn right I’m cold.”

With a soft sigh and a lingering look at the carton of ice cream, Sam sank down, blanket resting over one thigh and his long legs stretched out, obviously not even remotely cold. Dutifully, he held the ice cream carton and the spoons, waiting while Lucifer browsed Netflix and decided on some very trashy, very gory looking movie.

It started off with a lot of blood and screaming, and a hint of side boob, and Lucifer found he was already very invested.

“Oh, this is,” Sam made a face, passing over a spoon, “I mean, it’s your birthday, so ok.”

“Do you have any idea what we’re watching?”

“I believe it’s called Stab 3, which sounds _ super promising _ and I hope I can keep up, seeing as I haven’t seen the first two in the series.”

Ignoring the sarcasm, Lucifer started to explain. He knew it breached into ‘deepest lore’ territory, but Sam needed to understand that this was a movie based off a fictional movie series from a 90s film franchise, so it was this bizarre sort of fourth wall breaking, self aware sort of B-horror, and Lucifer loved it. 

Sam watched him with a smile, eating an occasional bite of ice cream, but mostly sucking on his spoon and nodding along. 

“That was too much info though, wasn’t it?” Lucifer asked after a lengthy pause.

“No. I liked it. We all have something we’re super into. You can be a movie nerd.”

Snorting, Lucifer knocked his knee into Sam’s, leaving it resting against the other man’s. “And what are you a nerd about, Sammy?”

“Me? I’m super into people not calling me  _ Sammy _ .”

Laughing far too happily, Lucifer had a very strong impulse to lean in and kiss the other man’s frustrated pout, an impulse that he didn’t follow through on. Instead he ate ice cream until he couldn’t feel his tongue.

“Seriously though. Only my brother calls me Sammy.”

“And only my brothers call me Lu, but you keep doing it anyways.”

“But Lu is a cute name.”

“Oddly, I’m not interested in being  _ cute _ .”

The look on Sam’s face said that he didn’t care, just this open and sweet expression, shoulders hitched in amusement.

“Goin’ around, calling people  _ cute _ ,” Lucifer grumbled, digging into the remains of the ice cream while teenagers were slaughtered on screen. “ _ You’re _ cute. Throwing surprise parties for your boyfriend. Makin’ coffee. Doin’ laundry. Dimples for days. Fuckin’ adorable like a puppy.”

Sam was watching him from the corner of his eye, a guarded look on his face, letting nearly a full minute pass before softly mumbling, “Sorry I was such a bad surprise. If it helps at all, I absolutely had no idea that you were Michael’s brother.”

Lucifer wanted to push Sam’s hair from his face, and had to roughly curb his own enthusiasm, clearing his throat before saying, “Might still be a little mad at Mike, because I know I said some things about you to him that I shouldn’t have after New Years, and he had to have figured out that the dumb drunk college boy I’d given a ride home was you. But… I get why Mike did it and I’m not mad at you. Don’t even worry about it.”

It was all said very quickly, like taking off a bandaid, and hesitantly looking up he was instantly struck by the expression Sam wore. 

“Yeah,” the younger man looked at least partially mortified, “I... um, don’t know if you know, but you were sort of my first kiss... and for some reason I told Michael about it. I’m just lucky he didn’t dump me as soon as he figured out it was you I was rambling about when I was a hungover mess after that party.”

His fingers were cold from holding the ice cream, and Lucifer ran them through his hair and pressed them against his scalp, collecting himself. He needed to say  _ something _ to Sam's unprompted confessions of the kiss, but the first five things that came to mind were not appropriate.

“Mike… Mike likes you. Normally he dates really pretty, really awful guys. I mean these real manipulative, full of themself, dick hole, sons of bitches. I’ve got a feeling he’s enjoying the change and doesn’t plan to boot you out on your ass any time soon.”

Which must have been the right thing, because Sam grinned like the sun coming out from behind the clouds.

“I like him too.”

“Yeah, I can tell.” Lucifer found that quiet and protective place inside of himself, remembering just how much he loved his brother. “He’s been pretty happy these past few months, and I’m blaming you for it.”

Sam chuckled. "I will happily take that blame."

And Lucifer wondered how long it would be before he stopped noticing how gorgeous Sam could be when he smiled like that. 

He never saw the end of the movie. Lucifer didn't even know that he'd fallen asleep until he was blinking awake. Sitting up, he arched his back and tilted his head until he felt the relief of his spine adjusting after too long in a weird position. 

There was a textbook braced against his rib cage and it gave him slight pause when he saw that there were hands holding the pages.

Still mostly asleep, Lucifer realised he was sitting sideways on the little loveseat, but instead of his back against the armrest he was leaning against another person. Sliding his hands from his stomach he moved them down the blanket, over his own thighs and then over that second set that definitely wasn't his. 

He was putting those confusing puzzle pieces together, waking up more and more, about ready to turn and see whose lap he'd fallen asleep in, when Sam started to squirm beneath him. 

He knew instantly it was Sam by the near nervous laughter. 

And by the way that Michael leaned out of the kitchen to look at them. 

It didn't really leave another option for Lucifer's snuggle buddy. 

"I miss something?" Mike asked with a small smile. 

"No, I just…" Sam let go of his book looking enough to slap away one of Lucifer's hands. "I guess I'm just a little ticklish."

"Sorry," Lucifer tried to untangle himself from the other man and the blanket. "How, um― sorry?"

By the time he'd settled back on his own side of the very tiny couch, he'd started to smile too. 

"Sorry," Repeating himself, Lucifer was no longer sure who the apology was for.

"It's alright," Sam assured him, grinning self consciously. "But you are a really,  _ really  _ heavy sleeper."

"Isn't he though?" Michael joined the laughter, coming over to the couch. "He was worried about moving you, even though I tried telling him you wouldn't have noticed."

Lucifer looked up at his brother, watching the easy way he smiled at both men on the couch. 

"Hey, test go ok?" Lucifer finally asked like there was nothing at all strange about today. 

"Yeah," Mike gave a little shrug, "hope so at least. I finished kind of early, thought I'd swing in and make you birthday breakfast."

Michael hadn't made birthday breakfast for them yesterday, so Lucifer had just written their little tradition off. It wasn't an every year thing, just a most years thing―and he felt happier than he'd like to admit that the offer was being given. 

"I can help," Lucifer offered, getting up before his brother had a chance to say yes or no. 

"I can help too." Sam started to get off the couch, but was gently shoved back down by his boyfriend.

"No, we've got it. You can keep studying," Michael instructed before stealing a small kiss and heading back to the kitchen. 

Lucifer followed, yawning and shaking off the last soft remains of his morning nap. "What kind of frufru nonsense food are we having this year?"

"Avocado toast and strawberry salad."

"Sounds super hipster," Lucifer snorted and looked at the bag of groceries on the counter. "What do you need me to do?"

Lucifer was tasked with cutting up fruit, which was so basic and boring he wasn't about to complain. 

After dicing maybe half the fruit he'd been given before his brother leaned against his shoulder. 

"We ok?" Michael asked soft enough it was obvious that the question was not meant to carry out to the other room.

"Yeah."

"Alright, but you can take a moment to actually think it over before answering."

"Don't need to, Mikey. We're ok."

Michael rested his chin on Lucifer's shoulder. "I know you liked him, I just didn't know who  _ him _ was until after we'd been together for month and I… you know."

"Mike, come on." Lucifer knew. He really did. Three days ago he'd been rattled to come out of his room and see someone he hadn't thought of in months. But, if Michael had introduced him to his boyfriend back in January right after Sam had beautifully said ‘no’ then Lucifer might have been a little more than rattled.

He would have been hurt. 

He would have been furious. 

Both feelings he knew would have been an overreaction, because wanting to kiss a guy didn't mean that Lucifer had any claim on him at all. 

That's not how these things worked. 

Unfortunately that simple understanding didn't remove that slightly jealous feeling that still lingered, and it didn't mean he didn't find Sam distractingly attractive. 

However, this wouldn't be the first of Michael's boyfriends that had Lucifer a little hot and bothered. God help him, but it probably wouldn't be the last either. One of the perils of having similar taste in men, he supposed. 

"Kelvin seems really great," Michael pointed out, going back to cooking. 

"He's a good guy." Lucifer regretted ever telling his brother he was 'seeing' someone at work. In retrospect, the harmless white lie he'd told to get his brother off his back about his nonexistent relationship status, was probably an enormous mistake. One that he shouldn't have dragged Kelvin into. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not the sort to put my hat out, I've got that kind of pride that makes it hard for me to ask for any kind of help, but I'm going to put out that things are a little rough over here right now.   
A lot of LIFE has come up in unexpected and expensive ways these past few weeks. Teaching paychecks come but once a month, and seeing as it's only the 6th, it's looking like the rough choice of either paying bills or buying food.   
so... yeah, if you've got an extra buck or two I've got a Ko-fi account and a lot of thank yous in my heart <3
> 
> Ko-fi.com/allthekingsham

Midterms were here and midterms were awful, and Sam was more than grateful for the break in his evening studying for a chance to clear his mind. At least that’s what he’d told Michael, but while they waited for the other half of their group outside the school’s fitness center, Sam pulled out his flashcards and tried to see if he could possibly cram any more information into his head before his test in the morning. 

“Where were you even keeping those?” Michael glanced up from his phone and laughed.

Sam glanced down at the gym bag resting at his feet and shrugged sheepishly.

“You promised you'd take a break,” that gently lecturing tone had started to creep into Michael’s voice. “You already know all of this stuff.”

“A little extra studying won't hurt.”

“You’ll make yourself crazy.”

“Says the man who reads medical textbooks between patients.”

“That’s different. My residency is almost up and then I’ve got to start applying for fellowships.”

“And I’ve got to keep my GPA where it is or I lose my scholarship―and there goes my tuition, and my housing,” Sam reminded, grinning at the kiss pressed to his cheek, refusing to turn towards his boyfriend, determined to stay fixed on his flashcards.

“I’m not saying you won’t pass your classes with flying colors, but… you know,” Michael kissed his cheek again, “if something does happen, or you just get tired of living in the dorms, you could always move in with me.”

That got Sam to lower the cards. Whatever look he wore must have conveyed an awful lot of shock and confusion, because it got his boyfriend laughing. 

“Too soon,” Michael nodded, putting his hands up. “Alright. I get it. I get it. Pretend I didn’t ask.”

“Michael,” Sam started, honestly not sure how long you were supposed to date before moving in together. “I, um―”

“Pretend I didn't ask." That hook of a smile never faltered, Michael humming softly like he did. "Instead, you are studying even though you promised to take a break, and I’m over here wondering where the hell my brother is, and we are talking about how nice this morning was.”

That was certainly a nicer idea than talking about complicated relationship stuff and Sam happily took the bait. 

“Yeah?” He grinned, cards loose in his hands, easily forgotten in light of such a pleasant reminder.

“Yeah.”

“This morning  _ was  _ pretty nice.” Sam leaned into his boyfriend, noses nearly touching, pleased at the way that he didn’t even blush anymore. Months back even the slightest suggestion of half the fooling around they did this morning would have left him clearing his throat and looking at his shoes while trying not to grin―tonight it just got him thinking of what they could get up to once they got home. 

“Hey you two,” Lucifer’s raised voice came from off in the parking lot, “aren’t there rules or public indecency laws or whatever?”

Michael stole a kiss anyways, grinning against Sam’s mouth before pulling away and nodding to his brother and Kelvin. “You guys are a bit late.”

“Yeah well, I didn’t want to come.” Lucifer shrugged.

Kelvin laughed, “I had to drag him out of work by his belt.” 

Sam tucked away his flashcards and felt a frown creep over him as he looked from smiling Kelvin to defiant Lucifer. “Do you have a change of clothes?”

“Nope,” Lucifer said smugly before slipping an arm around his brother in a half hug of greeting. Stepping back, he gave them both a challenging look.

“But,” Sam’s frown deepened, “you don’t want to run in jeans… or boots.”

“I don’t want to run. Period,” the man corrected. He must have come straight from the animal shelter, dark grey v-neck scrubs with his ID still clipped to a sleeve. He obviously had no intention of actually working out with them and Sam wondered what sort of bribery had been needed to even get him out here tonight at all.

“If you don’t want to run then you can walk,” Michael encouraged, “and it just so happens that I had a feeling you would do this, and I packed you a pair of sweats and your sneakers. Yay.”

Lucifer looked suitably betrayed by his brother, and all his protests seemed fairly deflated after that point, only arguing softly as the four of them went into the gym.

Midterm week was apparently not a very popular time for students to come to the gym, and it looked like the four of them would have the place mostly to themselves. The locker room was almost spooky without anyone else in it, and the whole place took on a deserted quality that reminded Sam of his Thanksgiving and winter holidays as one of the very few people left on campus. 

Sam managed to make his way around the track along side Michael and Kelvin nearly twice before noticing that Lucifer hadn’t joined. Puffing in frustration, Sam sprinted the rest of the way to the blonde’s side, having to scuffle his feet to match the other man’s snail pace. 

“Hey,” he offered a grin.

Despite the friendliness, Lucifer looked duely unimpressed. “Heya, Sammy.”

Sam ran a hand through his hair, trying not to acknowledge the name calling in hopes that might make it stop. “If you move any slower, you’ll be standing still.”

“Is that an option?”

Sam couldn’t help thinking of all the early mornings back in highschool, during track season, when he’d have to bribe Dean to come running with him. His brother had been equally belligerent at the idea of movement, but Sam had wanted the company.

“Come on,” he urged. 

“See now, I’m a firm believer that a man should only run if he’s being chased.”

Sam had a feeling that this wouldn’t work like it had back when he and Dean were kids. He wouldn’t be able to get Lucifer to run by simply promising to drop seventy-five cents on a maple doughnut once they finished.

“I mean, if you want someone to chase you, I’m up for it,” Sam threatened with a second, significantly less friendly grin.

A very nervous energy moved through Lucifer, a hint of a smile in his pale eyes. “No?”

“Is that a question?”

“No?” He repeated with the same uncertainty, stepping sideways and putting a small bit of space between them. 

Before Sam had a chance to decide the best way to chase his new friend, the other two men caught up, and Michael smacked Lucifer’s ass as he dashed by. 

It wouldn’t have been Sam’s first choice of a coercion tactic, but it seemed to work well enough.

“Oh! Oh, you  _ dick _ ,” and after tenderly rubbing his new injury, Lucifer took off after his brother. “Get back here.”

Michael was fast, and surprisingly so was Lucifer.

Sam laughed and watched his boyfriend wildly sprinting down the track, doing his best not to get caught. It was a beautiful sight, better still when Lucifer actually caught up with Michael and punched him back. 

Limping a little, Michael moved off the track in an effort to catch his breath. “No fair. That was way harder than I hit you.”

“Wow, sorry. Come back here, let me hit you softer this time.”

Laughing, instantly shaking off his limp, Michael took off running again. 

It left Sam to catch up with Kelvin. Jogging along at a comfortable pace, the two of them had a clear view of the brothers acting exactly like brothers did, Michael and Lucifer sprinting chaotically back and forth as they took turns hitting and kicking at one another. 

“I was going to mention how different Michael is from Luci,” Kelvin started, a bright smile between his words, “but then they do this and…”

“Yeah,” Sam grinned back. Watching the brothers horsing around made him happy, and it made him miss him own brother.

“You and Michael,” Kelvin didn’t seem to have much trouble keeping pace with Sam, chuckling while they jogged along, “you two are pretty serious? I mean, none of my business―I was just curious, and you know how Lucifer doesn’t say anything about anything. He never even told me he had a brother until inviting me to dinner with you guys the other night.” 

“Yeah?” It didn’t really shock Sam, and he shook his head at the way both brothers seemed to thrive on being difficult. “Mike can be weird about things too. I think it’s just part of the packaged deal with them.” It was a nice way to have a conversation and an even nicer way to avoid answering Kelvin’s question. 

Sam honestly didn’t know if he and Mike were ‘pretty serious’. It was difficult to gage these sorts of thing since he had no point of reference except what he’d picked up from movies. Him and his boyfriend hadn’t said ‘I love you’ yet, but at the same time, Mike had asked Sam to move in with him less than an hour ago. 

It gave sam something to think about― though unfortunately he wasn’t also given the time to think as someone from the gym staff came over to tell the brothers to stop horsing around. And one would think that that single warning would have been enough to shame Lucifer and Michael into not chasing each other around the track and kicking at one another’s shins, but it wasn’t. Less than half an hour later all four of them were getting kicked out of the gym for the night and Sam wished that he didn’t find it so funny because he felt that the two trouble makers needed to be given a bit of grief for what they’d just done. 

However neither seemed capable of shame.

“Well that was a great waste of time, Mikey. Thanks for including me,” Lucifer huffed, hands in the pockets of his sweatpants, shoulders hunched against the cold night air. “Now, let’s talk about that pizza I was promised.”

“What pizza?”

“Kelvin promised me we could get pizza if I let him drag me out here tonight.”

Michael rolled his eyes as he slid an arm around Sam’s waist, not even flinching at the sweaty back of his boyfriend’s shirt. “Well, if he promised…”

Sam leaned into the other man, smiling and offering, “There’s a pizza by the slice place in the student union. It’s not great, but it’s cheap.”

Oddly, the least difficult of the group, Lucifer nodded in easy agreement.

But before Sam could start leading the way Michael made a face and tightened his half hug.

“Sam,” he looked over with those very warm brown eyes of his, “if I’m going to have a pile of carbs and cheese for dinner, then I want something a little better than ‘not great’.”

Turns out that ‘better’ meant a ten minute wait to be seated and menu prices that made Sam wish he’d stayed home tonight. He could possibly afford a beer, or maybe a serving of bread. Even the salad was out of his price range. Seeing as he was used to splitting a five dollar large pizza with his brother, he’d nearly forgotten that there even was a more expensive option. 

“I’ve got you,” Mike whispered, nudging Sam’s foot beneath the table. “I picked the place, so I’ll pay for it.”

“What was that?” Lucifer peered over the top of his menu. “You’re buying us all dinner, Mikey? Wow. Thank you.”

“That’s not what I said.”

“It’s what I heard.”

Michael shook his head and slid an arm over the back of Sam’s seat, ignoring his brother.

After much debate, and only minor name calling, the four of them agreed to share a pizza. The whole meal went on like that, good natured arguing between the brothers and a smattering of name calling. Sam didn’t mind. It felt like being back home. He didn’t even mind when the topic of conversation naturally drifted back towards the medical jargon from their last dinner together. Michael and Kelvin talking about tricks to drawing blood, and Sam leaning on his elbows and smiling as he watched Lucifer making faces.

“You squeamish?” Sam asked softly.

Lucifer grimaced around the bit of crust that he was chewing on, wrinkling his nose. “No. It’s just not the kinda thing I wanna hear about while eating.”

“Oh, you’re  _ such  _ a liar,” Michael cackled, apparently catching that little snippet of their conversation. “I’ve pulled him in for two blood drives, and he’s passed out both times.”

Lucifer threw his half eaten crust at his brother’s chest. “I did  _ not _ pass out. I just had low blood sugar and needed to sit for a while.”

Still laughing, Michael dusted crust crumbs from his shirt. 

“Mikey, shut up.”

With that trouble making sort of smile that older brothers always seemed so good at, Michael leaned into Sam, whispering, “He absolutely passed out.”

It was the insistant way that Michael picked on Lucifer that got Sam to laugh―not the fact that Lucifer may or may not have passed out, because that part didn’t matter. What mattered was the way that Lucifer kicked him in the shins with expert aim. 

The first two times that they’d met had been dubious at best. 

Sam hardly remembered either party, and still, he was positive that he’d managed to make a bad impression both times. 

The fact that Lucifer looked annoyed eighty percent of the time did nothing to help clarify how he felt about the dumb drunk college kid who’d somehow snuck into Michael’s bed. Being forcefully dragged into the brother’s teasing clarified things perfectly though.

Lucifer liked Sam enough to give him a hard time.

And that was good to know. 

Half an hour later and Sam was pushing aside him empty plate. Full stomach and a smile fixed in place, he finished off his water, chewing on a piece of ice he nodded to Lucifer. “You ok?”

“Yeah,” He muttered, shifting restlessly on his side of the table as he checked his pockets. “ _ No _ . I think I left my wallet at the gym.”

“Maybe you left it at work,” Kelvin suggested.

Lucifer ran a hand through his hair, obviously lost in thought as he muttered, “Maybe?” 

“You know, I bet it fell out in the supply room.”

Lucifer half turned to look at his boyfriend, eyes coming into focus. “I  _ guess  _ it might have.”

Kelvin took a few bills from his own wallet and set them down with their tab. “You should go check though. Don’t want to leave it laying around for the morning shift to find.”

Which was valid advice, but it only made Lucifer look oddly suspicious. “Yeah. Alright.”

Like an idea suddenly occurred to him, Kelvin took a sharp breath. “Oh, and I left my car at your place. You know, I’ve really gotta get going home and feed the cat. Maybe I can catch a ride back with Michael.”

Michael looked up from where he was trying to figure out how much of a tip to leave, small math equations scribbled in pen on the back of the receipt. He smiled and shrugged one shoulder before offering, “As long as you don’t mind me dropping Sam off at the dorms first.”

“You know, the shelter’s actually back in the direction of campus, Luci could drop him off on his way. More efficient driving for all of us.”

Before Sam could weigh in on any of these suddenly shifting plans, Lucifer was sinking low in his seat, his feet kicking at Sam in a way that seemed incidental as he let his head fall back and profanities roll from his tongue, “Fuckin’ god.  _ Kelvin _ . Did you take my wallet and leave it at work so I’d have to go back?”

“Why would I do that?” Kelvin looked utterly unfazed by the man beside him, who was honestly very good at looking very annoyed.

“Because you’re a troublemaker.”

“I am,” he agreed before kissing a finger and pressing it to Lucifer’s scowl, “and so are you, and I’ve also got to get home, so you can be suspicious and grumpy at me later.” Kelvin slid out of their booth and nodded to Michael. 

“Oh!” Michael blinked. “We’re leaving right now. Alright.” He pushed himself up from the table, pausing to lean down and give Sam a soft kiss. “You don’t mind, right?”

“No. It’s fine.”

“Good,” he said, stealing one more kiss. “Let me know how your midterms go tomorrow?”

“I’ll text you when I’m done,” Sam chuckled, gently pushing Michael away. “Get going before Kelvin turns into a pumpkin.”

“Thanks for letting me steal your boyfriend, Sam,” Kelvin laughed his goodbye.

“Anytime,” Sam waved them off, happy. Or at least happy for a moment, until he turned back to Lucifer and felt his breath catch in his throat. “Hi…?”

The irritation had faded, the hard, angry lines of his face softened into a look of helpless confusion, “I― I don’t even know where to start with you.”

“What?”

“Come on, Sammy,” he sighed, shaking his head. “Let’s go find my wallet.”

Frustrated at the feeling that he was missing something, Sam simply got to his feet and followed the grumpy looking man out to his truck. 

Lucifer didn’t say anything for the first mile, driving in silence, lightly tapping his fingers to the almost indistinct radio.

Pushing his knees against the glovebox Sam tried not to fidget. He couldn’t figure out if the other man was legitimately irritated or if that was just his resting face, and hesitantly Sam offered, “I’m sorry about tonight.”

With a rough sound nearly like a laugh, Lucier glanced away from the road, “Why?” 

Sam tucked his hair behind his ears, fidgeting. “For… dragging you to the gym and you losing your wallet.”

“Neither of those things are your fault,” Lucifer grumbled, eyes back on the road, “but if you wanna take the blame for Kelvin, sure.”

“You and him...” the question fell apart before Sam could even get a handle on it. 

“Me and him  _ what _ ?”

“You guys,” Sam chewed on the inside of his cheek, realising too late that he shouldn’t have said anything at all. “You guys annoy each other in good ways. It’s cute.”

Lucifer wrinkled his nose, showing his teeth in a grimace. “ _ Cute _ .”

Grining, Sam nodded. 

“Ok. First off, I’m not even a little cute. Not ever.”

Sam snorted softly.

“Second…” Lucifer glanced over, the edges of his mouth going tight. “Second, if I tell you something and tell you not to tell Michael is that the first thing you’re going to do next time you see him?”

It’s not at all what Sam expected to be asked. 

“I mean,” Lucifer continued, “you two don’t have one of those sweet and sappy ‘no secrets between us’ sort of relationships, right?”

“It’s never come up.”

The other man rolled his eyes, “How are you like this? Seriously?”

Feeling only a touch defensive, Sam laughed and pointed out, “I’m not really living a life full of secrets over here. I’m sort of boring and very open about it.” 

The truck rumbled to a stop, angled over three parking stops, in front of a building with a sign reading ‘Santa Clara County Animal Shelter’.

For a brief moment, pushing aside the fact that this man was threatening to tell him a secret, Sam felt excitement bubble up. “Can I say hi to the dogs while you look for your wallet?”

“It’s late. The dogs are sleeping,” Lucifer said with a laugh and no apology whatsoever. 

“Oh,” Sam tried not to let the disappointment creep in, “yeah, that makes sense.”

“Tell ya what,” Lucifer rolled his head to the side, looking at Sam for a long breath. An awful lot of decision making going on behind his eyes before he finally said, “One of these days when you’ve got an afternoon off you can come in and roll the puppies around.”

The offer put a wide grin on Sam’s face. “Well, I do still owe you a lunch for that ride home.”

“Yeah, I can let you buy me lunch too I guess,” Lucifer nodded to himself like he was still thinking over whether or not a meal together might be a good idea, and he hopped out of the truck.

After a very brief once over of the shelter they found Lucifer’s wallet sitting in the middle of the supply closet floor like the most obvious thing in the world. With a few carelessly chosen angry words the wallet was picked up and jammed into Lucifer’s back pocket.

Sam was smart enough not to say anything, which made for a rather quiet ride back to campus. 

Or at least it was  _ supposed  _ to be back to campus. By the time they were turning into Mike and Luci’s neighborhood Sam realised something had gone wrong.

“Hey, weren't we dropping me off at the dorms?”

Lucifer’s head fell back and he let out a long breath before sighing, “Yes. I forgot.” The truck made an illegal U-turn and they started back in the direction of the college. 

“You forget I needed to go home, or that I was here with you?”

“Both?” A dry laugh cut through his answer. “Sorry. My mind is a million miles away. I was just following my ant trail home.”

“It’s alright,” Sam smiled, happy to see the edges of the other man softening. “Thanks for the ride by the way.”

“No problem, Sammy.”

Sam pursed his lips. “Hey,  _ Lu _ , what was it you were going to tell me earlier.”

He hummed a questioning sound, glancing sideways at the passenger seat. 

“That you don’t want me telling Michael?” Sam tried to clarify.

A slight pause as Lucifer chewed on his lower lip, then he shook his head. “It’s not really important.”

“You sure? Because I’m great at keeping secrets.”

Lucifer snorted.

“Come on,” Sam hung on to the fact that he’d nearly gotten a laugh out of the other man, because it was so much nicer than the grumpy silence they’d been sharing. 

“You know, some secrets are best kept as secrets.”

Sam sank down, seat belt cutting into his shoulder. “Would you consider trading a secret for a secret?”

With another sharp laugh, Lucifer glanced over. “Sure, Sammy. You go first.”

Sam hadn’t been lying earlier, he really didn’t have any good secrets, even still grinned and said, “Well, this one time when I was younger I crashed a party with some friends, got drunk, kissed some random guy―but don’t tell anyone. Ok?” 

Lucifer shook his head, an exasperated smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. 

“Hey, I’m a straight A student. Scholarships, mathleet, student council, the whole nine yards. Never got in trouble when I was a kid, and I certainly can’t start now.”

Stifling a laugh, Lucifer glanced over and said, “You have literally been nothing but trouble since the day I met you.”

“You only say that because you’ve never met my brother. Believe me, I’m the good kid.”

“Ok, but no offence, I’m officially scared of your brother.”

Sam grinned, inwardly both cringing and loving the idea of Lucifer and Dean in the same space. “Alright, but it’s your turn,” he urged, elbowing the other man. 

“That’s not fair. I already knew about you and the party and…” he cleared his throat, “and it’s not a good trade.”

“It’s the only secret I’ve got.”

The look Lucifer gave him said he had his doubts about that. “Me and Kelvin, we aren’t dating.”

Which wasn’t at all the sort of secret that Sam had been expecting and it caught him off guard for a beat. “Oh… did you two break up?”

“No. We just never dated. He’s just this guy I know from work.”

“But you two are sleeping together?”

“ _ Sleeping together _ ,” he repeated with a laugh. “Yeah, maybe you haven’t heard, but you don’t have to be dating someone to do that.”

“Oh,” Sam ran a hand through his hair, trying to think his way through it, and coming up short. “And why are we not telling Mike about it?”

“Because my brother is that Mom Friend people warn you about,” Lucifer snickered at his own joke, “and he fusses that I haven’t been in a serious relationship in a while. So I told him I was seeing someone to get him off my back. It wasn’t until  _ you  _ decided we all needed to have a double date that I actually had to come up with a ‘boyfriend’. And I mean, I know Kelvin and he had that night free for dinner, so… instant fake boyfriend.”

“I guess that makes sense?”

“Alright, smart ass, you try coming up with a boyfriend on a last minute’s notice.” He turned the truck onto a campus road, sparing a challenging look towards the passenger seat.

“Well,” Sam frowned the idea over and eventually shrugged, “I still think you two are sort of cute together.”

“Gee, thanks. Now tell me how to get to your stupid dorm because I don’t remember.”

Sam grinned, easing into the feeling. He gave the other man direction, and watched with some gentle satisfaction as Lucifer kept a smile the rest of the drive. 

They pulled up to the dorm parking lot, and even when the tires stopped and Lucifer looked over, Sam didn’t undo his seatbelt. 

“This the right place?”

It was, but Sam wasted a couple seconds looking out the windshield before nodding. “Yeah. Are you ok?”

Lucifer looked honestly confused as to why he was even being asked. “I’m fine?” 

“Even with your lifetime ban from the school gym and your fake boyfriend?”

“Fuck the gym, and fuck yeah,” Lucifer grinned. “Me and Kelvin aren’t really eachother’s type.”

Sam very nearly asked what Lucifer’s type was, but it wasn’t any of his business. “Alright I guess. But take care of yourself. Ok? Not to be that second mom friend in your life… just… you know.”

“I’m fine. Now get out and go to bed. You’ve got tests or something in the morning.”

Laughing, Sam undid his seat belt and hopped out. “Thanks again for the ride,” he said, leaning on the door.

“Yeah, yeah.”

“Spring break next week, will I get to see you again?”

Lucifer blinked in surprise before clearing his throat. “Yeah. I’ll be around the house if you’re over.”

“And maybe we can have lunch and visit some puppies.”

Shaking his head, but laughing, Lucifer pointedly said, “Good night, Sam.”

“I will take that as a yes,” Sam grinned, “Good night.”

  
  
  
  
  
  



	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys... thank you.   
Thanks for all the Kofi, the were some actual tears, but they were happy ones. Just wow and thank you for your support, I honestly wasn't expecting that level of love from so many internet strangers. You are amazing and me and my kitty have food in the cupboard and a lot less worry on our minds <3

Numbers had never been Lucifer’s friend. He’d been tested when he was younger to see if he was possibly dyslexic, and got back the assurance that no he wasn’t―he just sucked at math. A fantastic foundation for someone studying engineering. 

Pushing up his computer glasses, he rubbed at one eye and frowned between his monitor and the textbook laid out beside his keyboard. He’d been working on this singular problem for nearly twenty minutes, and felt like he was losing his mind because the longer he sat there the less and less sense the numbers seemed to be making. 

Just about ready to give up for the night, he leaned back in his chair and nearly had a heart attack when the slight bit of movement from the corner of his eye turned out to be Michael sitting on the edge of his bed. 

“Holy―” he pulled his headphones down around his neck. “What happened to knocking?”

“I did,” Michale chuckled under his breath. “And then I let myself in, and then I’ve been sitting here wondering how long it would take you to notice me.”

With a disgusted sigh aimed more at his class work than at his brother, Lucifer shook his head. “What do you need?”

“A big favor?”

Lucifer curled his lip, then repeated, “What do you need?”

“I got called in to cover the night shift at the clinic. Apparently Rosa called out sick, but I know that her little sister is turning twenty one tonight and I think that they are out partying. And someone owes me big for going in, and for not ratting her out.”

“Any chance of you telling me what you need in the next few minutes, or do I have time to get up and get a snack?”

“Right,” Michael laughed, hardly acknowledging the fact that he habitually needed to be redirected after distracting himself. “I’m supposed to pick Sam up from the library in half an hour.”

Lucifer tried not to sit up a little straighter in his seat. “Ok…?”

“Would you mind?”

“Why?”

Michael laughed again, pulling his legs up onto the bed and folding them underneath him. “Because he’s staying the night.”

“But you’re not going to be here.”

“No, but I’ll be back in the morning, and it’s just easier for us all to leave together instead of collecting him later.”

The wheels of his computer chair snagged on the carpet, making it hard for Lucifer to roll away from his brother. “He’s not coming with us.”

“Sure he is,” Michael said like it was the most natural and normal thing in the world.

Spring break had always just been the three brothers. Lucifer, Michael, and Gabriel. They’d go up to their uncle’s cabin in Tahoe and enjoy whatever snow was left at the end of the season. It had been a tradition since Gabriel was still in velcro shoes.

“Kelvin’s coming too,” Michael kept on, “and Gabe’s bringing… well… anyway, it’s the first time all three of us boys have been in sort of serious type relationships. A vacation all together is perfect.”

“At what point did you plan to tell me that you’d invited everyone to come along?”

“I’m telling you right now, aren’t I?”

On one hand, that could actually be a really good spring break―but on the other hand, it was almost guaranteed to be an utter nightmare for so many reasons.

Michael slid off the bed. “Thanks for picking up Sam. I’ve got to get changed and then off to a super fun night shift.” He kissed Lucifer’s cheek and let himself out of the room, happily pretending that at some point his younger brother had actually agreed to any of this. 

Grumbling, though inwardly appreciative for the distraction from his math, Lucifer got up and got dressed. 

It was raining pretty hard, so the run from the car to the library building was quick and chaotic, and Lucifer took shelter in the doorway to grumble and shake water from his hair before going inside. 

Before the automatic doors could even slid closed behind him the guy behind the counter was calling, “We’re closing in three minutes.” 

“Yeah, alright,” Lucifer nodded, glancing around the the large return desk but not seeing any Sam.

“Can I help you find anything real quick?” It was a forceful sort of offer, even though the guy smiled.

“I’m just Sam’s ride.”

The quiet hostility retreated, replaced by an easy smile. “There’s some benches over there under the heating vent if you want to just sit and dry off. He should be out as soon as he’s done upstairs.”

Almost too eagerly, Lucifer found the warmest bench and settled in to wait. 

Before he had a chance to feel even slightly less cold the nearby elevator opened and Sam came out pushing an empty book return cart.

Sam looked happy, but very tired, yawning as he ran a hand through his hair. “Hey, Aaron. Someone was eating Oreos up on the second floor again.”

“The hell is wrong with people?” The guy behind the counter demanded. 

“Should we get the vacuum or leave it for the morning shift?”

“Leave it. I’ll put it in the closing note.” The chore easily pushed off for someone else. “Your ride’s here. Go ahead and clock out. I’ll finish up.”

With a grin that quickly went flat, Sam looked out into the mostly empty parking lot. “That looks like Lu’s truck…” Too quickly he turned around, scanning the lobby until he found Lucifer sitting quietly in the corner, enjoying the warm. 

Lucifer raised a hand, wiggling his fingers in greeting. 

“Hey, you,” Sam grinned.

“Heard you needed a ride.”

“Yeah, just let me grab my hoodie.” With that same bright grin in place he shuffled around behind the counter, typing on the computer for a second, putting a few things away, before finally coming over as he pulled on a red school sweatshirt.

Quietly enjoying the view as well as the heater, Lucifer stayed on his bench, looking up at the younger man. “You finally ready?”

“I am,” Sam still had that dumb, happy grin in place like he was honestly happy to see Lucifer here tonight―but then he asked, “What happened to Mike? Is he ok?”

“He just got called into work,” he shrugged and stood, trying not to grin as the other man gave him a brief but crushing one armed hug. Self consciously, Lucifer patted his back and started walking towards the exit. 

“He should have texted,” Sam kept on talking, not missing a beat, “I could have walked back to the dorms. You didn’t have to drive all the way out here for me.”

“It’s raining, Sammy. You’re not walking. Come on.” Lucifer stepped outside and took off at an awkward paced run, racing Sam to the truck. And Sam might have won, but he had to wait in the drizzling rain while Lucifer unlocked the doors, so they were probably even.

“I’m never going to get used to these warm, wet winters,” Sam complained, a little curl of a smile softening his words.

“Looking forward to the snow tomorrow?”

Sam turned sharply in his seat, face open and excited. “Is that where we’re going?”

“Mike didn’t tell you?”

The exasperated huff of breath was answer enough. 

“Glad I could ruin that surprise.” Lucifer turned on the truck and frowned out the rain streaked windshield. “Have you packed yet?”

“I was going to do it in the morning.”

“Apparently we’re leaving first thing,” he didn’t like the way that this all seemed like news to Sam. Even in Michael wanted the snow part to be a surprise he should have mentioned something of their plans. “You want to pack tonight, and come sleep over?”

There were probably different ways he could have phrased his question. 

Ways that sounded less like he was inviting Sam over for his own enjoyment, and more like this here is what Michael’s plan had been and Lucifer was merely the driver. 

“As long as you don’t make me cook cupcakes for you again,” Sam laughed, not seeming like he’d found anything strange about the offer. “I just want to get some sleep.”

“Long day?” Lucifer was grateful for the redirection, driving slowly along the midnight campus roads towards where he thought the other man’s dorm might be. 

“Not a busy day or anything, but god, it went on forever,” Sam lamented, sinking low in his seat, knees mashed up against the glove box. He looked incredibly comfortable and already half asleep.

Lucifer rolled through a stop sign that he didn’t see until he was halfway into the intersection, stupidly distracted by the gangly frame of the man next to him. In the months since they’d first met, Sam had definitely started to fill out through the chest and shoulders, looking less and less like an awkward teenager each time Lucifer saw him.

“We chased the last few students out maybe an hour ago,” Sam yawned into the back of a hand. “I’ve been fighting to stay awake since then.” 

“Doesn’t help that you work until midnight.”

“Right? My sleep schedule is a complete mess,” Sam said. He sat up, adjusting the seatbelt against his shoulder. “You can just park wherever. Half the building is already gone for spring break.” 

“You, um… want me just to wait here while you pack?”

“You’ve never been up to my place, have you?”

Lucifer shook his head.

Sam grinned sleepily.

Which made the whole thing feel almost ominous. 

Though he didn’t have a particular mental image for what Sam’s dorm room would look like, Lucifer knew that if he’d been asked to imagine the man’s living space, this would have been it down to the law books stacked beside a boxy, outdated laptop.

He leaned on the doorway to the bedroom, glancing between the rest of the small dorm apartment and Sam packing a couple changes of clothes into a duffle bag. “Is your roommate sleeping? Do I need to whisper?”

“Hm?” Sam glanced up, then past Lucifer to a closed door. “No, Benny went upstate with his girlfriend to meet her parents. It’s just the two of us.”

Lucifer smiled at his shoes and nodded. 

“You can come sit down if you want,” Sam offered, waving at the bed before digging into his closet.

It would be rude to turn down the offer. At least that is what Lucifer told himself as he sat down on the foot of the bed. He felt a little self conscious about wrinkling the blankets on the very nicely made bed.

After their lunch a few days back, getting to watch Sam out in the yard playing with somewhere between five and twelve dogs, Lucifer felt like he was finally finding some firm footing in his goals of not wanting to make out with his brother’s boyfriend. Sam was almost too sweet to see as anything other than an overgrown kid. 

But that was days ago, and tonight Sam was pulling off his rain damp hoodie and t-shirt before rummaging around in his dresser for something dry to wear. 

Lightly defined back muscles and delicious little dimples at the small of his back.

Lucifer put his face in his hands.

“You look about as tired as I feel,” Sam laughed softly. 

Lucifer could only quietly shake his head and risk a glance at the now mercifully fully dressed Sam. “You about done?”

“Yeah… I still don’t really know where we’re going, so I’m not sure if I’m packing right.”

“You got yourself something warm to wear? Coat, gloves, all that kind of stuff?”

Sam nodded. 

“Then you’ll be alright.”

“I did notice that you’re not exactly telling me where we’re going anymore than Mike did,” Sam grinned, pushing the clothes in his bag down and zipping it closed. 

Lucifer shook his head, getting to his feet, happy that they looked like they might actually be leaving this terrible place. “I think Michael is trying to surprise you and I’m staying out of it.”

They got back home without further incident or wayward thoughts. Lucifer kicked off his wet shoes, but instead of leaving them beside the door he put them out in the garage to dry. Gently but deliberately putting as much space between himself and that walking temptation out there.

He’d sort of assumed, with as tired as Sam was, the guy would have just taken himself to bed―so when Lucifer came back into the house to find himself nose to nose with Sam, he let out a startled, indignant sound.

“I know I’m always saying it,” Sam’s gin was lopsided, “but thanks for the ride.” 

“It was nice to get out of the house for a bit.” Lucifer shrugged. “You need a late night snack or anything before I get back to my homework?”

“Homework?” Sam blinked in confusion. “But… it’s spring break.”

“Yeah, but I did less than amazing on my calculus midterm and my teacher took pity. So homework. And I’d like to get it finished before we head out tomorrow so it’s not waiting for me when we get back.”

Sam’s eyes lit up, and only too late did Lucifer remember that the guy had mentioned being a mathleet. He’d thought Sam had been kidding. 

“Do you want any help?” The offer was nearly too eager. Any normal person would have heard the words ‘calculus homework’ and been sympathetic because how awful it sounded. Sam looked hopeful.

“You’re tired.” Lucifer waved it off. “Go to sleep.”

“I don’t mind. I really liked calculus.”

Lucifer’s gut told him to dig his heels in, stay focused, say no.

Instead he ended up at his desk, with Sam leaning over his shoulder, happily walking him through the problem that had been giving Lucifer so much trouble earlier. 

The way the kid was talking it was as though he’d written the textbook, like it was all the easiest thing in the world. 

Maybe the equations would have even stood a chance at making sense to Lucifer if Sam’s distractingly nice self didn’t smell so distractingly nice.

Clearing his throat, he pushed the other man away with a shoulder. “Alright, alright, I think I got it. Give me some space.”

Sam chuckled and sank down onto the foot of the bed. If he was bothered by the fact that the bedding was a rumpled mess mixed with clothes that were too clean for the laundry basket but too dirty to put away, he didn’t show it. He simply made himself at home.

With a renewed need for focus, Lucifer drew a knee to his chest, resting his chin and narrowing his eyes at the homework. 

Every few lines Sam would lean closer to the desk and make small comments that drifted between corrections and encouragement. 

Truth be told, it was actually very helpful once Lucifer got his thoughts in order and focused on the task at hand.

One of the things he hated most about this second semester of calculus was that each problem took at least one full page to work through, sometimes even a page and a half. But he got there eventually. After checking his answer against the one in the back of the book he grinned, turning to Sam with a need to celebrate. 

Sam was incredibly asleep.

Sprawled back on the bed, hands folded loosely over his ribs, breaths even and soft. 

With a sigh and a smile, Lucifer turned off his computer. He pulled the edge of the blankets over Sam and lingered only a few seconds more than necessary before seeing himself out of the room. 

Sure, he could have woken the other man and reclaimed the bed.

But just as easily he took himself to Mike’s room, face planting onto his brother’s unused bed, and only letting his imagination run a little wild before falling asleep.

It was around the early dawn hours, at least that’s what it felt like as Lucifer restlessly woke to someone pulling an arm around him. 

He shifted against the touch, pulling away, frowning. Even in the dark he recognised the familiar shape of the man cuddling up to him.

“What… Mike, what the hell?”

“Lu?” His brother sat up, fumbling around in the dark before his phone lit up painfully bright. “What are you doing?”

“I  _ was  _ sleeping,” Lucifer pressed a hand over his eyes to shield them from the light, “right up until someone tried spooning me.”

“This is  _ my  _ bed.”

Determined to get back to sleep, Lucifer rolled away and snuggled deeper into the blankets muttering, “Still doesn’t give you a right to go around getting weird.”

“Where’s Sam?”

“Sleeping. Just like I was. Shut up, Mike.”

With an irritated sound, his older brother got out of bed, left the room, and only too soon came back. One of the couch cushions was mashed between them before Michael settled in. 

“No. Go sleep with Sam.”

“He’s in your bed,” Michael said so sensibly. “Either I have some nice morning sex with him in your room, or I sleep in here with you and the anti-cuddle pillow.”

Making a face, Lucifer glanced back over his shoulder with the simple request of, “Don’t have sex in my room.”

“I’m not,” Michael laughed like a jerk before saying, “Go back to sleep, you groggy mess.”

Lucifer did―but only because he wanted to.

If it weren’t for the frequent Sam in their house, then Lucifer might have been tempted to sleep in Mike’s room more often. The curtains were blackout thick, no light getting through and hardly any outdoor sounds. The quiet dark paired with the radiant warmth from the other side of the bed made it particularly hard to summon the will to get up.

Eventually he got there thought. Crawling over his brother and out into the cold and unwelcoming hallway.

Only today the heater was running, and the scent of coffee was strong. 

Sam was on the couch, in what looked to be the same jeans and t-shirt from the night before, holding a mug on his knees and watching the morning news. 

“Hey,” Lucifer called hesitantly.

“Hey,” Sam turned to smile at him. “Good morning.”

It was far too early to have someone smiling at him like that. With a bubble of sleepy laugher, Lucifer took himself to the kitchen and poured a mug of breakfast. 

“So, um,” Sam had a laugh of his own, though his sounded far more self conscious, “sorry for last night. I guess I was more tired than I thought.”

“It’s fine.”

“You could have just woken me up.” 

Lucifer wondered why it was so damn hard to keep up his grumpy exterior with Sam. “It’s fine,” he repeated, coming over to sit on the arm of the couch, avoiding the empty space where the missing cushions was supposed to be.

“Next time wake me up, ok?”

Taking a long sip of his very hot coffee, Lucifer asked, “How often you plan on falling asleep in my bed?”

“I  _ don’t _ ,” Sam grinned sideways, peeking up through his mess of hair. “But I didn’t plan to last night either, so…”

Lucifer took another long drink of his coffee, deciding it was in his best interest not to continue this line of conversation. “Thanks for the math help.”

“Happy to,” Sam turned to face him, ignoring the television in favor of being his usual eager puppy dog self. “I think I’d forgotten that you’re in school too. Other than stupid complicated math, what are you studying?”

“Biomedical engineering.”

Sam’s eyes went wide. “Really?”

“Well we can’t all be lawyers and doctors,” he shrugged one shoulder. “Some of us dream of government restricted chemicals and running repetitive lab tests.”

Chuckling, Sam shook his head. “You know, I don’t think I spend enough time with you.”

Lucifer raised an eyebrow.

“Because I somehow keep forgetting how weird you are.”

No matter what happened, this week was going to be awful. 

Lucifer could feel it.

By noon Michael finally came out of his cave, dressed in clean scrubs and wearing a frown.

“Sorry, guys,” he said in a rush, “got called in.”

“But you just got back,” Lucifer wrinkled his nose, nearly certain that labor laws were against giving employees only six hours between two twelve hour shifts.

“I know.”

“We were supposed to leave this  _ morning _ ,” Lucifer reminded softly, not quite able to keep the irritation from his voice.

“I  _ know _ ,” he rolled his eyes, finding Sam and stealing a kiss. “I’m so sorry.” 

“It’s alright,” Sam was so forgiving it was disgusting.

“I know I promised you a long and lovely week, but it looks like you’re going to have to get started without me.”

Lucifer frowned.

Michael kept on like it was just him and Sam in the room. “You and Lu go head up, if you get going soon you can get there before it’s dark, and I’ll meet you guys at the cabin tomorrow.”

“No,” Sam said quickly. “We’ll wait for you. We can all go tomorrow.”

“You are not wasting your spring break because we’re short staffed at work.” Michael gave Sam two very long, lingering kisses, whispering something that didn’t make it to the side of the room where Lucifer sat watching this all with quiet irritation. 

No one consulted him. Ever. Just volunteered him for chauffeuring people’s boyfriends into the mountains. 

He wanted to argue, but honestly wasn’t against the whole idea. They should have left hours ago, and Lucifer wasn’t in the mood to wait around until tomorrow. 

Still, he wasn’t the sort of person to just let his older brother boss him around. 

“ _ Gee, Luci _ ,” mimicking his brother’s deeper tone, Lucifer leaned back on the couch where he’d been awkwardly sitting since breakfast, “ _ would you mind packing all the stuff into your truck and heading on up without me, even though you don’t like driving in the snow? _ Well, sure, Mike. Why the hell not. I wasn’t doing anything else today.”

With an exasperated sigh, Michael went to the door to pull his shoes on. “Thanks, Lu.”

“Shut up,” Lucifer grumbled. “I bet you just volunteered to take a shift so you could get out of shoveling snow.”

Michael managed to look slightly offended, though his eyes shone with a repressed smile. “How dare you. I would never leave all those chores for you.  _ Never _ .”

“Mmhm,” Lucifer rolled his eyes.

"Thanks, Luci."

"Shut up."

"I love you," Michael sang.

"Shut up," he sang back.

His brother left, and Lucifer was once more left alone with Sam. Apparently alone until tomorrow. 

Which was fantastic and couldn't possibly get weird.

"Come on, Sammy," Lucifer got to his feet, mentally making a list of everything he now needed to do. "Help me get the cover on the back of the truck and let's get going."

The other man frowned, but it was hard to tell what part of all this he was actually annoyed by. 

Between the two of them they managed to get the hard shell down from the garage rafters, battled a small family of spiders, and got the truck suitable to carry their bags in dubious weather. Then the bags got tossed into the back, Sam raising eyebrows at the sleeping bags and tent.

"Didn't Mike mention a cabin?"

"Yup," Lucifer double checked he'd packed everything. 

"Are we camping inside the cabin?"

He snorted, smiling and pointedly not looking at Sam. "Sometimes we go to the other side of the lake and spend one night under the stars if the snow's not too bad."

If Sam grinned any wider he was going to hurt himself. "It's a cabin at a lake?"

And there went whatever last bit of a surprise that had been clinging on.

It was a great start to spring break.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> <3 a short chapter after an excruciatingly long week.  
Love you guys, in the least creepy way a stranger can tell you that :3  
I hope a silly chapter is just what you wanted tonight before bed, because it's just what I needed.

“Ok, but is there a song on here you don’t know?”

Sam didn’t even realise he’d been humming along with the music, and he hunched his shoulders awkwardly. “This is the music I grew up with. Sorry. I’ll keep it down.”

“You do you, Sammy,” the other man chuckled, rapping his knuckles against the steering wheel. “It’s just a little weird.”

“Why is it weird?”

Lucifer didn’t answer for a moment, chewing on his lower lip as he changed gears and the truck grumbled in protest. They’d made it all the way out of the bay area, through a couple of big cities, and now up towards the foothills. Faintly through the heavy grey clouds, Sam could just make out the shadows of the looming, white-topped Sierra Nevada mountains. 

However, there was still no snow on the sloping hillsides they were driving through, only winter dry grass dotted with brittle looking boulders and scraggly oak trees. 

Sam chose to hold out hope.

“It’s weird,” Luci hummed like he was trying to come up with a good reason, “because my parents were hippies and didn’t have kids until they were too damn old to be having kids. We didn’t have a tv, we had Grateful Dead on vinyl. You’re this little young thing… you’re supposed to listen to boy bands or whatever.”

Laughing, Sam half turned in his seat. “There are so many things wrong with that that I don’t even know where to start.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Do I?”

Obviously frustrated, though Sam wasn’t entirely sure why, Lucifer slapped at the glove box without taking his eyes from the road. “Change the tape. There’s got to be something in there you don’t know.”

“Doubt that,” Sam mumbled under his breath, smiling and delving into the previously undiscovered cassette collection. He didn’t mind. “You’ve got the same taste in music as my big brother. Him and me, we’d have these long car trips in the summer, not driving anywhere special, just driving to drive. We’d listen to the same five tapes over and over… and alright, but this might be easier if  _ any  _ of these had names on them.”

“They aren’t specific albums or bands. They’re just random mixtapes. They don’t need names, smart ass.”

“Ah yes,” snorting softly, Sam lifted a tape. “Obviously you ignored the traditional method of naming your tapes with a mood or anything logical. Leaving me with the exciting choice of do I want to listen to THREE or… oh my god, you’ve got  _ SEVEN _ ? Wow. How will I choose?”

Lucifer drew a growling breath. “I could just drop you off here on the side of the road. Mike would never need to know where I’d dumped you. Then I’d be free.”

“Not going to happen,” Sam popped in a new tape, feeling that wave of nostalgia again, this time in tune with the familiar strains of Led Zeppelin, one of Dean’s favorite bands. “Mike didn’t tell you? I’m moving in with you guys.”

The slightly stunned expression from the driver’s seat was well worth the teasing.

Sam continued, grinning, “Oh yeah. I’ll be staying in your room. Under the bed. I’ll be your own personal monster. That’s ok with you, right?”

With a sharp laugh, Lucifer finally cracked a smile. “Good luck with that one, Sammy. There’s a thriving community of other monsters down there already and probably two year’s worth of dirty laundry. You’re gonna be real cramped.”

“I’ll make it work,” Sam shrugged one shoulder.

“Yeah… no. I don’t like it. The idea of looking over the edge of my bed at night and seeing you smiling up at me with those dimples and those big puppy dog eyes―”

“Too scary for you?”

“Absolutely horrifying,” he agreed, shaking his head.

Sam leaned his weight into the passenger door, ignoring the rolling landscape in favor of watching the man beside him. 

Lucifer was still smiling. 

Lucifer didn’t smile nearly often enough.

They’d hardly gone a mile before he was frowning again. “You’re not really moving in though. Right?”

That morning Sam had been excited at the prospect of spending a day with Lucifer. Even though he’d met the man first, he’d hardly spent any time getting to know his boyfriend’s brother. A one day vacation was the perfect opportunity to try and make friends. 

It was unfortunate that Sam got the feeling the other man might only be spending time with him to appease his twin. Like when they’d made cupcakes for Mike’s birthday, or Lucifer picking him up from work the night before because Mike couldn’t. Other than those two times, and two more drunk and forgettable parties, Lucifer practically avoided Sam.

And it’s not like Sam blamed him. He’d been more than a little trouble for the other guy, plus the fact that Sam had never really liked any of the girls that Dean brought home so there might just be something to brothers not liking each other’s significant others.

But Sam was a friendly guy. He’d never had trouble making friends, and he was more than a little determined to win this man over. 

There was slushy grey snow drifts on the side of the road by the time they pulled off to fill up the gas tank. Lucifer threw open his door and spilled out onto the pavement with a long stretch, and Sam watched with quiet amusement. 

“Holy hell, it’s cold out here,” Lucifer’s words coming out with thick silvery breaths.

Bracingly chill air was blowing in through the still open driver’s door and Sam grinned into in. “Where’s your jacket?”

“In the back,” he answered in a way that seemed to indicate he had no intention of getting it out. “Hey,” Lucifer leaned into the cab, “come on out and keep an eye on the pump, I’m going to go see if they’ve got food.”

Sam glanced across the row of pumps to the neon lotto and beer signs in the gas station windows. “I can go inside.”

Snorting, Luci shook his head. “No way. You’d somehow manage to come back with a salad.”

The temperature difference between Stanford and up here in the mountains was enough to make Sam wish he’d dug his own coat from the back of the truck as he got out and watched the other man sprinting across the parking lot. He liked it, though. Between the salted pavement, coughing while trying to breathe air far too cold to be in his lungs, and the classic rock montage during the drive, he was nearly feeling homesick.

Lucifer came back before the pump was done, case of beer in one hand and a bag of chips under his arm.

“Do I want to ask if that’s dinner?” Sam watched the other man put his ‘food’ into the back of the truck with the rest of their things.

“Probably not.”

With a small frown, Sam peered around the truck, watching Lucifer walking away. “Probably I don’t want to ask, or it’s probably not dinner?”

Lucifer’s answer was less than clarifying. “We should hurry up, or it’ll be dark by the time we get up there.”

Reluctantly, Sam climbed back into the truck, pulled the seat belt across his chest and asked “There’s real food at the cabin. Right, Lu?” 

“What’s your definition of ‘real food’?”

“Not chips and beer?”

“Oh, you can’t have the beer. You’re still not old enough to drink.”

“Hey!”

“I’m not going to enable a minor. I’m the responsible one.”

“Responsible?” Sam laughed through his nose, not at all offended, but incredibly amused. “You’re the one with your shirt on inside out.”

Lucifer’s hand instantly went to the back of his neck, finding the upturned tag that Sam hadn’t even noticed until he’d watched the man running into the gas station.

“Great,” Lucifer grunted, shaking his head. “I love that I’m such a goddamn mess when you’re around― give me a second. Take the wheel.”

“What?” Sam hardly managed to ask as, to his horror, Lucifer grabbed his wrist and placed his hand on the wheel, and then proceeded to pull off his shirt and turn it right side out. “Lu! Lucifer! Fuck! Stop, stop, stop!”

“There’s no one else out here,” Lucifer tugged the right side out shirt back into place, rolling his eyes and mercifully putting his hands back on the wheel. “It’s fine.”

Heart pounding against his ribs, breaths sharp and panicked, Sam punched the other man in the thigh. “This is  _ not _ how I want to die, you jerk.”

“Ok,  _ ow _ ,” Lucifer tenderly rubbed at his leg, “Anyone ever tell you it’s dangerous to hit the driver while he’s driving?”

“You want to tell me again how you’re the responsible one?” Sam demanded.

“I’m not the one going around punching people.”

“You―” nothing good or helpful came to mind, and Sam forced himself to take deep, measured breaths. 

“Me…?” Lucifer prompted.

Sam shook his head, still working on pushing down the now useless panic that was giving way to equally useless anger.

And with a strangely satisfied smile, Lucifer drove the rest of the way to his uncle’s cabin.

It gave Sam a nice half an hour to get over his stupid near-death experience, and admit that with how slowly they were driving and how there was no one else on the road near them, it was possible that the other man’s actions weren’t quite as dangerous as they’d seemed at first. Lucifer was a still a stupid jerk, but Sam was willing to move on, seeing as they’d both lived through it.

Leaving the freeway behind, the old truck rattled along nameless roads that were banked on both sides with thick pine forests and large patches of snow that grew less and less visible in the setting sunlight. With houses and cars growing less and less frequent, and no signs of any street lights, night time came in incredibly fast. By the time they pulled up to the cabin it was little more than a tall blocky shadow against the darker sky.

“I promise it looks a lot less haunted from the inside,” Lucifer flashed Sam a grin and hopped out of the car. A lot of profanity followed as the man hugged himself against the cold and ran through the snow and up the cabin’s porch.

Sam braced himself for the obvious bad time, cursing their lack of planning as he did his best to follow the other man up the stairs. Lucifer was fumbling in the dark, still cursing under his breath as he hopped from one foot to the other. 

Being helpful, Sam pulled out his phone and shone some light onto the door handle. It didn’t seem to be the right thing though, seeing as Luci just stood there holding his keyring and ignoring the doorknob all together. 

“I didn’t bring the key,” the man’s voice was horrified and soft, his teeth chattering between words.

Sam hugged himself against the cold, his feet stilling, the hopping coming to a shuffling stop. “What do you mean, you didn’t bring the key?”

“How could there possibly be any other way for me to mean that, other than the obvious?”

“You didn’t bring the key?”

“I’ve never had to bring the keys before. Mike always hangs on to them,” Lucifer’s voice was getting smaller and smaller, hardly more than a breath. “I-I didn’t even think about it.”

Sam left the man to his existential crisis of stupidity, running back to the truck to find both their coats. He zipped his up before jogging back up the porch. Lucifer’s heavy coat was draped over his shoulders and Sam gave the man a solid smack on the back.

“Ok,” Sam stomped snow off his shoes, “is there a spare key hidden somewhere?”

“No.”

“Do the neighbors have one?”

“No. My uncle hates the neighbors.”

“Is he nearby? Can we call him to come down and unlock the place for us?”

“No. He’s in LA.” He finally turned to look at Sam, face very pale in the bright light of Sam’s cell phone. “What kind of person lives that kind of close to their vacation house?”

“What kind of person doesn’t check to make sure they have their keys with them before leaving?”

“Smartass.”

Sam didn’t dignify that with a response, instead looking at the long, dark windows on either side of the door. “You have a pocket knife or anything?”

“Why?”

“Because I might be able to get the window open.”

“And set off the alarms. Yeah. That would be great. I’d love to explain to the police why we’re breaking in.”

“Do you want to drive back down to Stanford?”

Lucifer wrinkled his nose, pulling his arms through his jacket sleeves and buttoning up. 

It was too cold outside to stand around trying to come up with a good answer. “Or we could go back into town, maybe get a hotel room for the night.”

“We are not staying in a hotel,” Lucifer said far too quickly.

“Alright, Luci,” Sam took a sharp, frustrated breath through his nose. “What would you like to do other than freeze our collective asses off while listening to you tell me no?”

“We...we can sleep in the truck.”

Sam’s eyebrows hitched. “Because that’s obviously better than a hotel.”

“It’s not. I just,” Lucifer growled out an almost painful sound of frustration, “Mike’s going to be here in the morning and I don’t want to have to tell him that you and me shared a hotel room.”

With a snort of a laugh, Sam shook his head. “ Mike wouldn’t care.”

“Yeah,” Lucifer laughed too, but it sounded strained, “he really would.”

“Alright…” he’d agree, if only because standing here on the porch and arguing wouldn’t get them anywhere other than more cold. “Oh! We could sleep in the tent.”

“Too much snow on the ground. We’d have to dig out a spot and I didn’t bring a shovel.”

“No shovel, no keys. Fantastic.”

Lucifer narrowed his eyes.

“So… the truck sounds great.” Sam didn’t want to fight. He really didn’t. He just had been caught off guard by the surprisingly big wrench thrown into their vacation plans. “Can we go in and get warm now?”

After only a few more snide comments between them, Sam found himself tucked into the bed of the truck with his boyfriend’s brother. He couldn’t argue with the logic of it. If they’d tried to sleep up front they’d have to do it sitting. At least in the back they could stretch out, which was important to both of them. There were sleeping bags and backpacks, and it wasn’t as nice as a bed would have been but at the same time, Sam had absolutely slept in worse places. 

It was almost like camping.

Almost.

Except there were no stars, or tent above them to look up at, just a rusty camper shell. 

“This actually isn’t as bad as I thought it’d be,” Sam admitted, wiggling down into his sleeping bag as much as he could. 

“Tone it down, Sammy. I don’t know if I can handle that level of enthusiasm,” Lucifer loomed in his corner of the truck bed, too tall to sit fully upright, but too stubborn to lay down just yet. He took a long drink from the beer he was holding before reluctantly holding it out to Sam.

Smiling softly, Sam pushed himself up to his elbows and took the bottle. He glanced at his watch, laughing. “It’s not even nine yet.”

“And you’re still tucked in like you’re headed to bed.”

“I’m cold.”

“Me too,” Lucifer took back his bottle and held it loosely against his knees. 

Not giving much thought to his actions, Sam sat up the rest of the way, scooting over the distance between them until his and the other man’s shoulders were touching. “We’ll just have to keep each other warm I guess.”

There was barely enough light to see the horrified expression on Lucifer’s face. 

“If I didn’t know that you didn’t know how to, I’d accuse you of trying to flirt with me.”

Sam laughed.

“First the hotel, now the snuggling.”

“Shut up.” Sam stole back the beer. “I just don’t want to freeze to death in the driveway to a house that probably has a very nice heater.”

“An  _ excellent  _ heater, and three fireplaces.”

“Why would anyone need three fireplaces?”

“So you can enjoy a roaring fire in either the living room, bedroom, or while relaxing in your bath.”

“There’s a fireplace in the bath?”

“You haven’t lived until you’ve taken a bath by firelight.”

Laughing, Sam pulled over the bag of chips from the gas station. “Tell me more stories about all the luxurious things on the other side of that locked door.”

“My uncle, he’s― he’s the same one with the beach house, so you’ve sort of seen his taste. Rich but not like tiger skin rugs and gold toilets kind of rich.”

“Beach house?”

“The Halloween party…”

Sam frowned, eating a chip, trying to remember there being a beach that night. “Alright. I’ll take your word for it.”

“How drunk were you?”

“I guess a lot,” and he tried not to be too embarrassed by it. He was young. He was allowed to be stupid occasionally. Still, he’d prefer to change the subject. “You’re shivering.”

“Yeah, well, it’s real cold.”

There would be no argument from Sam on that one. “You know, we could probably zip the two sleeping bags together. It’d be warmer with the shared body heat and… and you’re looking at me really weird like that’s not exactly how this works.”

“First, it's a hotel room, now it’s sharing sleeping bags.”

“Is that―” all of a sudden it made sense to Sam, “that’s why you don’t like me. Because I’m dating Mike but you think I’m flirting with you?”

Lucifer opened and closed his mouth a few times, but didn’t seem to be able to find the words he was looking for immediately.

“I mean, I can’t say I’ve never thought of you that way,” Sam said like an apology. “Apparently I kissed you the first time we met, so god only knows what was going on in drunk Sam’s head that night. And I know that Mike’s had some jackass boyfriends before I got here, but I promise I’m not trying to get in your pants or anything.”

Lucifer reached between them and took his beer bottle back. “Well, that’s good.”

“Don’t say it like that.”

“How am I supposed to say it?”

“I’m serious,” Sam sighed. Normally this sort of quiet frustration was reserved for conversations with Dean. “You… you remind me a lot of my big brother,” if only because the two enjoyed the same music and were equally difficult, “and I’ve sort of been hoping we could be friends at some point.”

“Wow, could you even be more of a boy scout?” Lucifer set down his beer and unzipped his sleeping bag, irritation in every little movement. “Course we can be friends, as long as you don’t say it like we’re in some after school tv special about the importance of friendship.”

With a sigh Sam copied the man beside him, kicking his legs free of the warm bedding while trying to be mindful of the chips and beer, which was a challenge to do in such a small space. 

“And this is for warmth, not flirting,” Lucifer reiterated a little needlessly.

“Not flirting,” Sam promised. “Swear to god.”

Still watching him with a narrow expression that was undermined by the way he shivered, Lucifer pulled out his phone to use for a flashlight. Sam was left with the job of fighting the zippers to make their beds into one king sized sleeping bag.

“Ok, but you’ve done this before,” Lucifer managed to sound even more doubtful as Sam victoriously laid out their new bedding.

“Tried not to freeze to death in the back of a truck with my boyfriend’s brother?” Sam raised an eyebrow. “Well yeah. I do this every weekend. It’s my favorite.”

Lucifer sat there looking at him with all sorts of disapproval.

“Yes. I’ve been camping in the snow. I was a kid and it sucked, but I didn’t die of hypothermia,” He scooted his way into the sleeping bag, holding one side up like an invitation. “I’d like to keep that streak going, if you don’t mind.” 

With a deep sigh, Lucifer managed to let go of his stubbornness and mistrust long enough to crawl in beside Sam. Then, kicking his feet, he pulled an arm around Sam’s ribs and sank below the edges of their covers. Leaving only the top of his head peeking out from where he rested against Sam’s shoulder. 

For a long moment, the younger man could only lay there on his back, feeling a little stunned and awkward. “Hey, um…”

“Not flirting,” came the slightly muffled reply from the sleeping bag. “Just cold.”

The fact that Sam was just as cold helped him to ignore the weirdness that this could easily lead to. He wrapped both arms around the other man and curled close, repeating, “Not flirting, just cold.”

After what had to be about half an hour and nearly a half dozen minor shifts as the two men tried to find comfortable ways to lay against one another, Sam found himself on his side as the big spoon to a very tall man who folded down to a surprisingly comfortable small spoon. 

“You still awake?” Sam gently asked the arm full of man pressing his back into Sam’s chest. 

“No,” Lucifer answered with a yawn.

“Is this weird?”

“It is if you start talking about it.”

Sam guessed that Lucifer was probably right, but still asked, “And you’re sure you’d rather sleep here than in a hotel room?”

“I’m sure I’m warm right now. Don’t want to think about other stuff.”

It was probably a good plan. With a laugh, Sam burrowed down even more, resting his chin on the other man’s head. “Good night?”

“Yeah, sure,” was the reply from deep down in the sleeping bag. 

“Sleep tight,” Sam urged with a smile and a very slight hug.

“Not like I have a choice here.”

“Don’t let the bedbugs bite.”

“I swear to god if you try to bite me neither of us are making it out of this sleeping bag.”

Sam laughed, softly repeating, “Good night, Luci.”

Very reluctantly, the other man finally said, “Good night, Sam.”


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> gah  
I'm not dead, life has just been a bit more lifelife lately. I'm helping my aunt with housework and her kids, since she had a shoulder surgery-- between that and teaching my wiggly little kids how to make ART there has been no energy left over for anything else.  
Thank you to everyone who's checked in on me, and for people sending me ko-fi T_T (those occasional green teas in the morning have been a godsend before delving into the world of children wrangling)
> 
> It's nearly 1am and I should have been in bed hours ago, but insomnia has always been my buddy so... here's a small chapter <3

Someone was knocking and sleepily, Sam tried to get out of bed. He tried really hard for roughly five confusing seconds before he was awake enough to figure out why he couldn’t move. Between being cocooned in a sleeping bag, his arms tucked under Lucifer’s shirt, and Lucifer sleeping soundly under Sam while thoroughly pinning Sam’s arms between his chest and the bed of the truck, there was no way that the younger man could possibly sit up.

Not many other options, Sam lifted his head, feeling the cold air against his cheeks as the sleeping bag slid down, he yelled, “Yeah?” 

Lucifer grunted and shifted beneath Sam. By the confused noises he made it was obvious that he was also having a hard time figuring out why he couldn’t move.

“You guys ok in there?” It was a man’s voice, one that Sam didn’t immediately recognise.

Sam smiled hopefully, calling out, “We’re good.”

But he quickly lost his smile and optimism as Lucifer roughly rolled them over and Sam found himself on his back, stunned, with the groggy looking blond struggling to sit up on top of him. Sam struggled to find the zipper and help to free them, except his arms were numb due to having someone sleeping on top of them for the past few hours.

“Lu,” Sam grunted, “get off.”

“ _ You _ get off,” came the confusing reply as Lucifer managed to unearth himself, sitting up and promptly smacking his head on the camper shell. With a wounded noise, he curled forward, cradling his head as he weakly spouted profanities.

Sam managed to sit up, worried as he cradled the man in his lap. “Hey, you ok?”

“No.”

“Let me see,” Sam clumsily pushed the other man’s hands out of the way, his own hands still numb, looking for the damage. “I think it’s just a bump.”

“Gee thanks, doctor Sam,” Lucifer hissed, pushing at Sam, trying to get off his lap.

Sitting up straighter, mindful of the low ceiling, Sam strained to see their visitor through the back window of the truck. “Gabriel. Good morning,” though the faint light outside said it was hardly even morning yet.

Lucifer popped open the long back doors, hands going right back to his head afterwards as he looked over his shoulder at Sam. “You’ve met?”

“Yeah, me and Mike have had lunch with him a few times.” Sam smiled, pulling the sleeping bag up around his shoulders as the much colder outside air spilled in. “Sorry, Gabriel, but we don’t have the key to the cabin so you’re sort of stuck outside with us.”

“I texted him last night,” Lucifer said, sitting on the open tailgate, pulling his shoes on.

“And I  _ Mission Impossibled _ the cabin keys from Mike―you’re welcome―and you both owe me  _ big  _ for not telling him you all forgot them in the first place.” Gabriel grinned, cheeks and nose red from the cold. “I will be accepting cash, booze, or licorice as your form of gratitude.”

“All of the above,” Lucifer promised, sliding out of the truck and pausing a moment to lean down and kiss his brother on the forehead. “Did you bring me coffee?”

Sam slid out of the truck, struggling to get his balance as his whole body started to protest the movement. All his joints were stiff and aching, hurting in ways that had nothing to do with the cold. Apparently his back didn’t appreciate him sleeping on a metal bed, or on Lucifer.

Gabriel scrubbed a hand over his forehead before tucking his hair behind his ears. “Yeah, we stopped off in Truckee and got groceries and Starbucks.”

“ _ We _ ?” Lucifer frowned, glancing at the dark sedan parked beside them.

Sam turned too, seeing someone slumped in the passenger seat, long blonde hair pressed against the window.

“Yeah, um,” Gabriel shifted from foot to foot, “June fell asleep. You guys can head on in, I put the food on the table. I’ll go wake her up.”

Eager to get warm, Sam trailed after a frowning Lucifer, asking in a whisper, “June is his… girlfriend―”

“She’s my best friend,” Lucifer cut him off, hopping up the porch steps. “They started dating recently. I’m still working on how I feel about it. Why the hell are you wearing the sleeping bags like a cape?”

Feeling like a little kid being called out for doing something weird, Sam pulled the bedding from his shoulders, hugging them to his chest as he followed the other man into the cabin. 

He didn’t make it past the entryway, his feet shuffling to a stop as he looked around in quiet awe. He knew what cabins were supposed to look like. He’d been in more than a few and they were all rustic and warm and small and cozy. This place was more like what he imagined a ski lodge would look like. A big sunken seating area around a low circular fireplace in the center of the room, stairs going up to a landing and doors, stairs going down, a big bay window with a table, and down another hall looked like a kitchen and possibly another room. 

“This place is giant,” Sam whispered.

“I guess?” Lucifer had made a straight line to the table, finding a paper cup and lifting it up like it was something precious. 

“They get one for me too?”

Lucifer gave a tiny shake of his head with the cup pressed to his mouth.

Sam sighed, setting the sleeping bags over the back of the couch. 

“I’ll share,” the other man offered.

And he could have said no, but Sam found himself taking the offered cup and sipping on the very strong, very black coffee. 

Lucifer stepped around him, half stumbling down towards the unlit fireplace. “You sleep ok?” He asked while he tossed a couple logs into the center.

“Not really,” Sam admitted.

“Me either,” he laughed, opening a tender box and pulling out a match. “It’s got a gas starter, key for it’s over here,” he pointed it out, “just in case you ever want to make a fire. Just turn it, wait a few seconds, toss the match, and then turn off the gas. Ok?” 

Sam nodded, coming closer, watching how easily it was done, and instantly appreciating the warmth billowing off the burning logs.

Holding his hands out towards the fire, Lucifer visibly started to relax. His shoulders slumped, his head falling to one side. Hesitantly he offered, “You want to get a morning nap?”

Sam turned his face from the pleasant heat, looking at the other man questioningly. “Together?”

“N-no,” Lucifer’s relaxed expression turned into a frown. “Not  _ together _ . But there’s a lot of couch down here and it’ll be real warm real soon. Room for us both without it being weird.”

“Not flirting, just napping?” Sam clarified with a little smile.

“Don’t see why we can’t have both,” a laughing, feminine voice offered.

Sam turned quickly to see the lanky blond woman coming in the front door, grinning sleepily at Lucifer and him. She was nearly a head taller than Gabriel, freckle cheeked, wearing Scooby Doo pajama pants, and looking far too happy for this early in the morning. 

“Hey, Juney,” Lucifer held an arm out, waiting expectantly as his friend shuffled at him, bounding the last few steps to hug each other aggressively. “Good drive up?”

“Don’t know. Slept through most of it,” She slapped his back twice before letting go and turning on Sam, catching him in an equally thorough hug.

Laughing in surprise, Sam gave her a small hug back, asking, “Hi?”

“Hey, Sam.” She craned her neck to look up at him. “We met on New Years, but I don’t really remember it, so don’t feel bad if you don’t either.”

“Oh,” he looked to Lucifer and saw the man give him a slight, disappointed nod. There was so much from that party and Halloween that Sam would probably never know about and he was just going to have to come to terms with the fact that he probably shouldn’t be allowed to drink without supervision. “Ok. We’ll, nice to meet you a second time, June.”

“It is,” She finally let him go, falling back onto one of the couches and pulling the sleeping bags over herself and settling in. “The boys always have nice things to say about you.”

“Oh,” Sam said again, turning back to Lucifer.

The man gave him a tight-lipped smile and offered nothing else.

June’s arms extended from beneath her blankets, fingers wiggling wildly as she demanded, “Gabe, come cuddle with me. I’m tired and cold.”

Gabriel grinned sheepishly at his older brother, and gave a sideways glance at Sam before kicking off his shoes and vanishing under the blankets as well.

It left Sam as the only one to see the conflicting look pass over Lucifer’s face, a crooked scowl that slowly shifted to a gentle smile. He ran a hand through his hair and turned to Sam, eyes widening like he hadn’t expected the other man to be standing so close, or to be looking at him. Lucifer shrugged awkwardly, nodding towards the quietly shifting blankets as the other two people settled in for a morning nap. 

Sam shrugged too, not sure what he could possibly add.

Sighing out a tiny laugh, Lucifer took the coffee from Sam and set it beside the fire before turning to the other couch and gestured widely like he was showcasing a prize on a game show. 

Taking one step towards the welcoming couch that looked insanely more comfortable than where he’d spent the last few hours sleeping, Sam hesitated and looked back to Lucifer. He didn’t know why they were doing this all in silence, but he wasn’t about to break the relaxing quiet that laid over the gently crackling fireplace. He pointed to himself, then to Lucifer, raising an eyebrow questioningly.

Lucifer shrugged, giving a tiny shake of his head as he whispered, “Not flirting.”

“Just napping?” Sam whispered back.

With a solemn nod like a promise, Lucifer went to a heavy cedar chest in the corner beside the woodpile and pulled out a throw blanket. After a short game of charades as they tried to figure out how to both fit on the couch, and Sam reminding himself that Michael came from a very physically affectionate family so that this wasn’t actually strange, the two of them figured it out. 

They both took one arm rest as a pillow, laying head to toe with tangle of legs in the middle, being very mindful that they didn’t knee one another in any delicate places. Sam wanted to talk a little, to check in and make sure that they were ok after such a rough night, but folding his arms behind his head he could see that the other man already had his eyes closed, his breaths evening out. 

Sam fell asleep with Lucifer’s toes tucked under the sides of his ribs, and he woke up to June sitting cross legged at his feet. He’d shrugged off his blanket at some point and the jacket, flannel, and shirt he was wearing were hopelessly twisted around his middle, which meant he’d done a lot of twisting and turning in his sleep. Considering how warm the room was, he wasn’t surprised he hadn’t managed to wake up earlier, before he’d started sweating and pushing away anything covering him. 

Bleary in the way he always felt when he’d slept too long, Sam pushed himself upright and shrugged out of his jacket. “Hey, um, what time is it?” 

“Almost noon,” she smiled at him over her phone. “The brothers are outside yelling at the snow. I promised I’d keep you company until you woke up.”

“They’re yelling at the snow?” Sam was nearly certain she was joking, but at the same time wouldn’t necessarily put it past Lucifer.

“Shoveling the driveway,” June shrugged.

“Oh,” Sam shook himself, forcing his body and mind more towards wakefulness. “I should go help.”

“It’s brother bonding time. If you try and break it up I’ll have to fight you,” she didn’t look up from her phone while she spoke, her thumbs tapping quickly as she typed something. “So, what’s dating Michael like?”

He blinked at the sudden shift. “It’s… I mean, I’m enjoying it? Mike’s pretty wonderful.”

“Really?” She managed to sound mildly disappointed. The phone was tossed onto the couch beside her and she turned to face him, resting her chin on her knees. “We’re talking about the same Michael, right?”

“Unless there’s an extra brother I don’t know about, also named Michael.” Suddenly Sam remembered that he had met June, or at least seen her the same night that Michael had ‘introduced’ him to his brother. June had been the woman in the doorway arguing with his boyfriend. Michael hadn’t wanted to talk about her. They’d just had their dinner and Sam had made a mental note to ask later though he never did. “You and him don’t get along, do you?”

“No, he kissed my boyfriend when we were fifteen.” She grinned, not seeming at all still upset about this fact. “Then I went and kissed his boyfriend a few months later… there was a slap fight… we both refused to apologise. I think we’re actually both mostly over it, but it’s kind of fun to keep up the fighting. We both work around a lot of stupid people that we can’t tell off, so it’s nice to reliably have someone to tell to fuck off.”

Sam absolutely didn’t understand, but if it worked for them he’d leave it alone.

“We pinky promised each other to behave this week though,” she shrugged one shoulder, “not sure if we remember how, but we’re going to try.”

“Good luck,” he said with half a question on the end. “What do you do for work?”

“I’m a tattoo artist.” Her grin came right back. “I work next to a bar and we get a lot of drunk frat boys in, the kind that want tribal tattoos or something cool written in Japanese. How about you?”

“I don’t have any tattoos―”

“No. What do you do for work?” 

“I work at the library on campus.”

She beamed at him, dropping her voice to a whisper, “That’s right. He mentioned that you were a hot librarian, minus the glasses.”

Heat rushed to Sam’s cheeks and he cleared his throat. It was one thing to hear it from Michael and something else altogether to hear it from a girl he didn’t even know. “So you and Lucifer are friends?”

It was meant as a safer topic, and he hadn’t been anticipating that it would earn him happily embarrassing stories of teenage Lucifer and Michael, before the brothers came in and put a stop to things.

All three brothers, plus Kelvin.

June was holding her ankles, leaned into Sam, mid reminiscing, “So there the three of us are, nowhere near our clothes, and we see the police lights out on shore―”

“June! No,” Lucifer’s voice was sharp, he’d hardly even come through the doorway, but he’d nearly instantly gone from happy and laughing to a look of absolute horror.

“Oh my god, you left her alone with Sam?” Michael looked nearly as disturbed as his twin.

“Me and Mister Sam were just talking,” June said so very innocently. “Apparently he hasn’t heard all the fun stories about you two when we were in high school.”

Lucifer had rounded on the couch and simply picked his friend up, setting her on the couch further away from Sam like he was placing her on timeout. “Because he doesn’t need to.”

“No one needs to,” Michael confirmed, coming down the steps, leaning over Sam to give him a kiss on the cheek. “I don’t know what all she told you, but it’s all lies.”

If Sam had to guess from the brother’s overreaction, he’d put his money on the story being incredibly true. 

Michael sank down beside him, sitting at a strange angle as he stretched his legs out long. “Sorry I couldn’t make it up with you yesterday.”

“It’s alright,” Sam smiled, pulling his arm around the other man’s shoulders, happily becoming a pillow as Michael made himself comfortable. “How was your emergency work shift?”

Michael’s gaze flicked over to the other men for just a moment before his smile went a little tight on the edges. “It was fine. Same old stuff. You boys sleep ok? Didn’t miss me too much?”

If Sam didn’t know any better he’d think Michael was lying about work being fine―maybe he just didn’t want to get into the gory details, seeing as this was their vacation. Sam would let it pass. Especially since he caught the way Lucifer was subtly shaking his head at them. Apparently, they weren’t going to mention the lack of key and their night in the truck. “Yeah. We were ok. And of course I missed you. I always miss you.”

Michael grinned, leaning into Sam to lightly touch their noses together.

Gabriel made soft retching noises. 

“Alright, alright,” Michael put his hands up, laughing. 

“Seeing as this is usually a brothers only weekend,” Gabriel took on a sudden air of authority, “I vote all canoodling with significant others be kept at a minimum during daylight hours. No offence, Mike, but I’m not going to be able to handle you and your pretty boy making eyes at each other like this constantly.”

“Does that mean I don’t have to see you and June kissing this week?” Michael sounded almost too eager.

Gabriel looked to the woman still sitting on the far couch where she’d been placed. 

June shrugged and nodded, “Not in public spaces. But what we do in our own room or when you’re not around is our own business.”

“Deal,” no hesitation in Michael. He also didn’t stop leaning on Sam, so apparently slight couch cuddles didn’t count.

Separate from all the scrutiny and rules, Kelvin leaned into Lucifer and whispered loudly, “I like how no one is worried about what we’re up to.”

“It’s because they all know I’m physically incapable of giving anyone  _ pretty eyes _ ,” Lucifer grunted.

“You could try,” Kelvin insisted, teasing.

“I did try it once. Pulled something and ended up on bed rest for a week.”

Sam chuckled.

Lucifer glanced at him, startled. With an almost sheepish smile, he straightened his back and looked ready to pretend he wasn’t just joking around with Kelvin. “So, if all you giggling teenagers are about done making up weird rules and scheduling your makeout times, what does everyone want to do today?”

As it turned out these vacations up at the cabin were usually left open-ended, no normal plans or things that the brothers usually did other than relaxing and tease one another. So their afternoon was spent putting away the groceries that Gabriel had brought up, as well as making a list of the things that he’d forgotten to buy that someone would need to go into town and pick up the next day. Sam helped everyone bring in their stuff from various vehicles, and in the end, was the one to help Kelvin encourage everyone to get their coats on and take a walk through the woods.

Sam had been in snow plenty of times, but Kansas wasn’t known for having spanning forests and he was eager to enjoy some time appreciating nature.

Michael’s hand was cold in his. Neither of them had gloves, but neither of them complained either.

“I can never talk Lu or Gabe into spending much time out here with me,” Michael glanced back over his shoulder at the four other people meandering behind them, bits of conversation and laughter clipping between the trees. “They hate the cold.”

“Then why come to the snow every year?”

“Why not?” Michael countered, using their hands to gesture to the deer trail they were following. “It’s beautiful. Plus sitting around the fire being idiots together is one of my favorites. There’s no distractions out here, and we all just get a few days to relax and be together like when we were kids.”

A wash of affection curled through Sam. He understood Michael’s sentiment perfectly. “Me and Dean would always go on long car rides to nowhere. It’s nice to have an excuse to do nothing together.”

“See,” Michael swung their arms a little higher, “you get it.”

“Yeah, I get it.” Sam raised Michael’s hand, pressing a kiss to his cold knuckles.

With a smile and a sigh, his boyfriend let go, tucking his hands into his coat pockets and tightening his shoulders against the cold. “I’m glad you guys came along this week.”

“Yeah?” Sam glanced back over his shoulder at the rest of their group. Kelvin walked to Lucifer’s left, Gabriel flanking his right, with Lucifer walking in the middle while wearing June like a backpack. The woman’s arms were looped around her friend’s shoulders, cheek resting against his while she talked to Gabriel.

Sam grinned and turned back to Michael. “ _ All _ of us?”

Michael glanced back too, before rolling his eyes. “Yeah. All of us. It’s good to be here with my family, and my friends, and…”

The thought trailed off and Sam wondered if his boyfriend was fighting for civil words, or just not sure what to call this mess. “And,” he prompted.

“And that’s it,” Michael let out a sharp breath, smiling and nodding. “My family and my friends.”

“Aw," Sam laughed, teasing, "so _just_ we’re friends now?”

“One of my _best_ friends. A best friend I get to kiss. It's awesome.” Michael sidestepped into a gentle shoulder nudge. “And I’m still sorry that I wasn’t able to come up with you last night.”

“It’s alright.”

“You and Lu were ok?” 

“Yeah,” he answered and hoped that it sounded genuine. “The trip was fine, we went to bed early, slept in. It was nice.”

“He’s being nice to you?” Michael nudged again. “He can be… prickly.”

“Lucifer?” Sam laughed dryly. “Prickly? No. He’s a pushover. Just a sweetheart, really.”

“He was that bad?”

“Honestly?” Aside from the cold, and the awkward realisation that Lucifer had thought that Sam had spent all their time alone hitting on him―it actually hadn’t been that bad. They’d shared a beer, joked around, and used each other as pillows during their restless night. Sam found himself smiling at the memory of how he’d ended up spooning his boyfriend’s brother, how comfortably they’d fit together despite how uncomfortable the bed of the truck had been. They hadn’t been spooning though, hadn’t been cuddling. They were just keeping each other warm.

He glanced back again, softly saying, “We had a good night.”


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This update comes a little late to be a Christmas present, but maybe this chapter is just super early for next Christmas?  
It is weirdly fun to be writing about snow during winter for once. feels seasonally appropriate even though we never get snow where I live.

Lucifer sat back on his heels, scratching at his forehead, and feeling incredibly frustrated. He tried to keep it out of his voice however as he glanced up at his friend, “So, you didn’t really have your heart set on a working hot tub this week, right?”

“ _ No _ ,” she whined softly, “but come on, you’re an engineer, you can fix it.”

“Not that kind of engineer and you know it.” He narrowed his eyes at the water heater and wished that any part of it made any sort of sense.

“I was promised snow, hot tub, and wine.”

“There’s a bath upstairs, a freaking huge one next to a fireplace. Promise, it’s just as good, if not a little better. Give it a try.”

She folded her arms and sighed. “Ok―but it’s not the same thing.”

Lucifer stood, using a knee to push the casing closed over the heating unit. He wanted to apologise again, because he really wasn’t used to letting his friend down, but there wasn’t a chance before the patio doors swung open enough for Michael to peek out at them. Lucifer’s brother was in short sleeves and it was obvious that he didn’t intend on coming out to join them, or even leaving the warmth of inside more than absolutely necessary. 

“Any luck?” Michael honestly sounded hopeful and not like he was giving them a hard time.

Lucifer assumed the look on his face was answer enough, because his big brother sighed and shrugged.

“Want me to ask Sam to come out and take a look at it?”

“Only if Sam was a hot tub repairman in another life,” he grumbled, picking up the toolbox he’d had to dig out of the shed.

Michael only laughed and ducked back inside. 

Too quickly Sam was stepping out into the cold, his boot laces dragging over the snow as he tromped over.

Before the guy could get a word in, Lucifer raised a skeptical eyebrow, “You know how to fix a busted hot tub heater?”

“I’ve fixed a couple heaters, no hot tubs, but I can give it a look and―”

“Thank god you’re here, Sam,” June pushed herself up to sit on the high edge of the covered tub, “all these other big smart men around here don’t even know which side of a hammer is the business end.”

Sam gave a sheepish sideways smile between her and Lucifer. “I just said I’ll take a look at it. Not making any promises.”

“I’ve got faith in you, Sammy―” June beamed before promising, “and after dinner you can share my bottle of wine while we relax in this expensive but currently busted hot tub.”

Lucifer saw the hint of a frown touch the edges of Sam’s mouth, but the guy didn’t correct the nickname. 

Sam took his turn crouching in the three inches of snow covering the porch, peering into the heating unit. “Everything is unplugged, right?”

Lucifer almost asked why it would need to be, but the logic was fairly obvious. He hopped down off the porch, making sure that everything was safe like he probably should have done earlier. “You’re good to go,” he promised as he returned to the footprints he’d left beside the hot tub.

“Alright, is there, um, a three-fourths socket wrench in there,” Sam asked, wiggling his fingers at the toolbox that Lucifer had instantly picked back up as if it were his job.

Pretending he had any idea what a socket wrench was, Lucifer set the box on the hot tub’s cover and started to dig through it. “Will, um, will this work?” He asked and held up his first best guess.

“That is… a really big pipe wrench.” Sam squinted up at him and his offering, You got anything smaller in there?”

“Give me a sec,” he grinned, pleased that he’d been in the right tool family, and fully content to dig around for a smaller version. 

“June,” Michael popped his head out again, pulling everyone’s attention back to the house, “You wanna give the men folk their space and come make dinner?”

The eager anticipation fled from June, and she straightened her shoulders. “What?” 

“Cooking... _ please _ ?”

“If you’re thinking it’s my job to make dinner because I’m the only girl here, then fuck pinky promises to play nice, because we’re about to have some words, Mike.”

Michael held his hands up in a hasty surrender. “I meant that you  _ and  _ me would cook, like we used to.”

Glancing at his best friend, Lucifer let out a breath he hadn’t realised he’d been holding.

She slid from the edge of the tub with a smile like a knife. All June’s best smiles were sharp ones, sharp like her laugh, sharp like the rest of her.

“Yeah, well, we  _ used to _ have my dad in there with us doing most of the work,” she reminded with a scoff of amusement, “so if you think I can cook even half as well as we used to then you’ve got another thing coming.”

Michael held the door open wider for her, smiling back. “June, the only reason I was ever in that kitchen in the first place was because your dad was there, so…”

“Good god, was anyone  _ not _ thirsty for my dad?”

Whatever Michael’s laughing answer was, it was cut off as the door closed behind them. 

Surprised at how well that went, and actually anticipating what would come of dinner, Lucifer very nearly overlooked the fact that he was supposed to be finding whatever the hell a three-fourths socket wrench was. 

Sam was suddenly standing up, shoulder to shoulder with Lucifer, as he pushed a hand through the toolbox. 

“Sorry, I was,” Lucifer couldn’t remember what he’d been doing before he wasn’t sharing the same air as Sam, his thoughts boiling down to the way he could taste coffee on the other man’s breath, and how it really was too late in the day for coffee.

“It’s alright. I was worried about the two of them too.” Sam held up a long metal handle with a sideways cup on one end that in no way resembled a wrench. “If they threw down I think I’d put my money on her, to be honest.” He sank back down and started confidently settling into his work. 

About two very indulgent seconds passed before Lucifer took a step back and busied himself looking through the toolbox instead of looking at the man kneeling at his feet. After spending nearly twenty-four hours straight with Sam, Lucifer had finally convinced himself that there might be a way to see the guy as just a friend, only a friend, absolutely off-limits, and really a kind of fantastic guy that he could see himself very happily being friends with eventually. But no, Sam had to go and look so very nice on his knees, and Lucifer was right back to square one, reminding himself of their talk last night where the other man made it very clear that he wasn’t interested. 

If only Lucifer’s mind and body could get on the same page where Sam was concerned. Good intentions and logic didn’t mean shit if hormones were going to keep getting in the way.

“Screwdriver,” Sam said, holding out a hand like he was a doctor in surgery requesting a scalpel. 

“The plus or the minus shaped kind?”

Sam looked up, a question in those deep, warm eyes of his. “Flat head… the, um, the minus shaped kind,” he elaborated with a smile.

Lucifer pulled one out and handed it down, unsure how anyone was supposed to possibly be expected to memorise all these tool names. “So, you’re one of those mechanically inclined  _ normal _ kinds of guys, aren’t you?”

“Normal?” Sam repeated with a chuckle. “Don’t know if I’d say it that way, but my dad owns an auto repair shop, and he liked to think he could fix just about anything else too, despite what Mom would tell him. There were always projects going on around the house, motorcycles in pieces in the living room, dishwasher taken apart all over the dinner table, probably about twenty busted VCRs that he swore would eventually turn into one working VCR once he had time to get to it. Mom insisted my brother and me take our Saturday mornings trying to put back together whatever Dad had taken apart during the week while he was still at work and couldn’t stop us. Me and Dean got really good at putting things back together.”

“I think that’s just the curse of all dads. They think they can fix anything.”

“Yours too?”

“He liked to think so.”

“Any electrical tape in there?”

Finally one that Lucifer knew. Grinning, he dug deeper, setting aside all sorts of unhelpful things until he was able to produce the roll of black tape.

“It looks like some wires are just loose, little dirty between the connectors… it might work now?”

“Want me to plug it back in?”

“Be my guest,” Sam grinned, his breath fogging as he spoke.

Eagerly, Lucifer got the power cords back in place, and dusting the snow from his knees he peered over the edge of the porch. “Fingers crossed?” 

Sam leaned around the edge of the hot tub his eyes bright.

But Lucifer didn’t want the suspense. “And?”

“And I think the water is frozen, so it’s going to take a while before anyone can actually use it,” he used both dimples as he grinned, “but it’s working?”

“Anyone ever tell you how annoying it is that you’re so good at everything?” Which was a feeling that he hadn’t thought all the way through before saying out loud and the strange look that Sam gave him in reply made Lucifer wish that he’d just said ‘thank you’ like a normal person. He scooped up the toolbox and shuffled back into the cabin, refusing to answer the other man’s odd smile.

"It's not on purpose?" Sam laughed, following him inside. "There's lots of things I'm bad… at," his confession trailing off as he stopped to stand beside Luci, grinning.

Music was playing loudly from a cell phone resting on the kitchen counter, blasting ABBA, Mike and June singing along equally as loud. The sight gutted Lucifer. His brother and best friend pinky promising to be nice for a few days was all well and good, something that Lucifer hadn't put much hope in. Watching two of his favorite people playing around again like they were kids wasn't anything he'd ever even hoped to see again. 

Sam elbowed him, partially breaking the spell that had started to settle over Lucifer. "Come on," he whispered, "show me where the toolbox goes."

It took Lucifer nearly a full chorus of  _ Dancing Queen _ to understand why that was something he should do. Not because San needed to know where the tools were kept, but because they weren't going to risk interrupting the happy air in the other room. 

They passed by Gabe and Kelvin near the fire, the other men talking about football, and Lucifer took Sam on a small, impromptu tour of the cabin. There were some raised eyebrows at the master bathroom, despite the fact that Sam had been warned about the giant tub and modest fireplace. The other man couldn't seem to keep from making stunned comments on how fancy the place was as they moved slowly from room to room. Lucifer wasn't so removed that he couldn't agree that his uncle had a taste for fine living, but he was also so used to this old place that the game room downstairs didn't feel all that exciting anymore. 

"Who has a pool table in their basement?" Sam demanded, holding his arms open wide to the green felted tabletop.

"People who like to play pool?" Lucifer offered, doing his best not to smile. 

"In the middle of the wilderness? Shouldn't there be skiing or fishing or―"

"That your way of saying you're not willing to let me beat you at a game of pool?" Lucifer circled the table, hesitantly taking a cue down from the rack on the wall. 

"Isn't dinner going to be done soon?"

"Oh, it won't take me that long to beat you," he grinned with confidence he didn’t actually have, suddenly very aware of how alone he and Sam were down here. But going back up ran the risk of disrupting the show tunes now playing. Or worse, would require admitting how much he didn't trust himself. 

Sam gave him a lopsided, tight smile before taking the cue from his hands. "Rack them up then, Luci. I'll go easy on you."

It was a mistake. Such a stunning mistake. 

Half an hour later he was back upstairs, poking his food around his plate and pointedly not looking at either of his brothers. Not that it made a bit of difference. Even if Gabe and Mike were too distracted to notice his mood, June was right beside him and very bad at not giving him a hard time. 

“I made it special for you, jerk.” She lightly kicked him under the table. “Eat it, don’t stab it.”

“Yes,  _ mom _ ,” he grumbled and took a bite. It was some sort of meat and noodles and actually pretty good, so he nodded and gave her a small thumbs up.

“Alright, what are you grumping about?” June made a face at him, mouth twisting, “You won, didn’t you?”

That wasn’t the point. Lucifer risked a glance down at the other end of the table where Sam was sweetly flirting away with Mike like nothing had happened downstairs. The jerk.

He turned back to June and whispered with a mouthful of spite, “He  _ let  _ me win.” 

If she rolled her eyes any harder she’d have hurt something. 

“It’s cheating,” he pointed out.

“That’s not how cheating works.”

“He cheated,” Lucifer was sure of it. He’d watched Sam deliberately miss far too many easy shots, shots that he’d set up for the kid. Sure it had taken far too long for him to realise that the kid hadn’t sunk a single ball―mainly because Lucifer had been far too distracted by the way Sam looked in his jeans every time he leaned over the table. But the guy lost on purpose. He let Lucifer win, when Lucifer didn’t need any help at all, and it was insulting.

June kicked him again, stole a bite of food off his plate, and turned to talk to Gabriel. Obviously done with Lucifer’s nonsense.

He couldn’t blame her.

A warm hand slid over his knee and he jumped, turning to look at Kelvin.

“Hey,” his pretend boyfriend said with a smile. “You alright?”

“Fine,” Lu shook his head, shrugging one shoulder.

“You just not used to winning at pool?”

“I always win,” he didn’t even feel smug about it. Pool was one of the few things he was actually good at, and it had taken him years to get that bit of higher ground on his brothers. He didn’t need someone to throw him a pity win.

“And so you’re mad that you won like normal. Good,” he chuckled, giving Lucifer’s knee a little squeeze, fingers skimming up the inside of his thigh before letting go. “You’re a complicated man, Luci.”

“Damn right I am.”

“Sam,” Gabriel suddenly spoke up, leaning forward to plant his elbows on either side of his plate, “you play pool?

Lucifer rubbed a hand over his eyes, muttering, “Goddamn it, June.”

Sam looked incredibly sheepish, charmingly embarrassed as he shrugged and didn’t really answer Gabe’s question. Those big warm eyes of his settled on Lucifer for a moment though, and he smiled.

That smile was the worst part of it.

They checked the hot tub after dinner and the water was still cold, regardless of how much June cursed it. So, with that bumped to the next night, and for some reason beyond his understanding, they all went down to the basement. 

There were things down there to do other than play pool. It  _ was  _ a game room, stocked with board games and cards and books and a comfortable sofa facing a flat screen television mounted on the far wall. Despite that, Sam and Kelvin played doubles against Mike and Gabriel, the four of them laughing as they shot pool.

Lucifer sat quietly off to the side. He was good at it. Comfortable and easy with his knees curled up under himself while he played a game of twenty-one against June. With the cards laid out between them on the couch as they took turns being dealer, he was almost enjoying their quiet game―very almost able to ignore his saltiness at being cheated earlier. 

“I know you’re all twisted up about him,” June whispered, so close that they almost knocked foreheads, “and whatever, not my type I guess, but that ass―”

“June, shut up, or I swear to god I will throw you into the snow,” he flicked a card at her, and glanced over at the pool table. No one was paying them any attention, so he didn’t have to feel too guilty about admiring his brother’s boyfriend for a few seconds longer than he should have. 

“You know what I think it is?” She kept on going, relentless as all best friends were required to be. “He looks like my dad.”

Which was not what he’d expected, and the startled laugh that came out of Lucifer was a lot louder than he’d expected. “He looks nothing like Dad.”

“Who looks like June’s hot dad?” Michael pipped up far too quickly.

June pointed at the very confused and innocent faced Sam.

And Lucifer saw how it was going to go even before his friend was off the couch, pulling out her cell phone. He collected up his cards and started to deal out a hand for solitaire, shaking his head as June showed pictures to the boys and the argument got started. 

They didn’t need Lucifer’s help. Even when Michael brought June’s phone over to show a picture of her dad that must have been texted over recently just to prove her point. A picture of a photo that had undoubtedly been taken in the mid eighties, of a man that admittedly looked very much like Sam. 

“Wow,” he leaned away, “I hate it. Thanks.”

“Right?” Michael laughed, returning to the group, handing the phone back to its owner.

Lucifer didn’t feel left out, he could have joined them in an instant, teasing poor Sam who didn’t seem to know what to do with this newfound information―but he prefered to give Sam a hard time on a more one on one basis. It wouldn’t be fair to gang up on the guy. 

“I’m getting drinks,” he announced as he pushed himself off the couch and headed upstairs. It was meant more as a general information that he thought the group should know, not a request for help. Lucifer hadn’t expected Sam to jog up the steps behind him. “Hey, um, I’ve got it, ok.”

Sam smiled, shoving his hands into his pockets and followed Lucifer into the kitchen. “I know you do. It was just getting a little… too crowded.”

“You sure you weren’t just running from the weird of knowing your boyfriend’s hot for someone’s dad?”

“I mean, that is a little bit of it,” Sam was painfully honest, clearing his throat and asking, “You don’t have a crush on him too, do you?”

Lucifer chuckled and pulled out one of the bottles of liquor that Gabe had brought up. “No. Don’t hold it against Mike though, because to be fair, Dad is pretty hot.”

Smile turning into a grin, Sam took the bottle. “You call him Dad?”

“That’s how he was introduced to me?” Lucifer shrugged and pulled out a stack of cups, pausing, “There’s soda in the fridge if you want.”

Sam lifted the bottle up with a confused frown.

“You’re still not old enough to drink. So… water or soda. Your choice.”

The look Sam gave him was a prelude to an argument, one that Lucifer did his best to avoid by quickly walking back downstairs with the cups. He heard the other man following him and did his best not to let that feeling of being chased make him run down the stairs.

It in no way surprised him when Sam poured himself a drink along with everyone else, defiantly making eye contact with Lucifer as he drank―a short lived challenge as he quickly turned his head to try and hide a fit of pained coughing behind his cup. 

Michael laughed and put an arm around his boyfriend’s shoulders so sympathetically. “You ok?”

“This is awful,” Sam hissed between his teeth.

“Yeah, well, that’s just what tequila tastes like.” With far too much joy, Lucifer took the cup away, finishing it off. “Maybe you’ll like it when you’re older,” he said a little too sharply as he turned back to his couch, gasping softly once he knew Sam couldn’t see him. There had been far too much tequila in that cup and it burned in a way he hadn’t been braced for.

His insides warm and his head already swimming, he sank back down beside his card game. Pride kept him going, laying down a three of diamonds on a black seven despite how wrong it was. He needed to pretend he was ok until he was sure that everyone had gone back to their pool game and wouldn’t notice him rubbing his head and blinking the tears from his eyes.

He needed to talk to his baby brother about the importance of spending the extra money next time to buy liquor that didn’t taste like it could double as a paint stripper. But Gabe was barely twenty one and obviously the novelty of being able to buy booze hadn’t become refined enough for him to realise that a really big, really cheap bottle wasn’t necessarily a good thing.

The pool game picked back up, but with the shared drinks and the fact that there were now five people playing, it seemed that most of the rules had been abandoned in favor of just joking around and having fun. 

At some point his stolen cup was refilled, and he nodded his thanks to Kelvin. Surprisingly, the man sat on the arm of the couch, leaning lightly against Lucifer’s shoulder. “You ok over here, Luci?”

He hummed a soft assurance, frowning as the other man leaned over him to play a few cards.

“Come on,” Lucifer started to complain, the rest of the words cut off in a surprising kiss. “Those are my cards, man,” he finished as soon as Kelvin pulled back. 

“You want to come join us?”

“I’m fine,” he insisted, eyes narrowing when Kelvin didn’t leave. His pretend boyfriend still pressed against his shoulder, their mouths still very close. The sort of close that they never got unless clothes were coming off. “You need something?”

“Thought you’d like a little warning that your brother is up to something,” he took another kiss, this one slower and very pleasant. “He told me not to say anything to you about it, and just go along... but I’m still not picking sides here.”

Lucifer blinked twice, sucking on his lower lip before asking, “Which brother?”

“The yummy one.”

Sighing hard enough it hurt his chest, Lucifer pushed Kelvin off. “Yeah. Ok. Thanks. Go kick his ass at pool for me.” Lucifer needed to find someone who wasn’t hard for his twin. It did nothing for his self-esteem to be a second choice at best.

It was almost like no one here understood that tequila was meant to be shots and not half filled cups, and Lucifer took a cautiously measured sip of the very strong booze before collecting up his cards to carefully shuffle them and start over. 

He had no idea what Michael was up to, his only comfort being that it wouldn’t matter―because his brother was absolutely helpless when it came to doing anything sneaky or mean. He was too much of a gentle soul to ever deliberately do anything awful. Which mean that Lucifer needed to brace himself for some sort of dumb joke, and even with a warning, he found he couldn’t be all that worried.

He didn’t usually underestimate his big brother this badly, but it was a hard learned lesson that he probably needed. 

Almost halfway into his overly filled cup of tequila, he heard his name and sleepily he turned to look over and see what Gabriel needed. 

“You used to do magic tricks?” 

Mouth hanging open in confusion, Lucifer stared at his Gabe, brain slow and sluggish to make sense of the question. “No?” He answered uncertainly.

“You did too,” June giggled, her cheeks red and happy. “Remember? You taught yourself some card tricks to impress girls.”

He snorted, remembering. “Ok. I did. I learned how to juggle too. That was back when I was a dumb sophomore, before I learned that girls are absolutely not impressed by those kind of things.”

“Why didn’t anyone tell me about this?” Gabe insisted, way too excited about the news.

Michael was hugging a pool cue against his chest, swaying happily as he helped by adding, “Remember when you got into a fist fight for showing that one guy’s girlfriend the trick? And you got suspended for three days?”

“Chris Lylles,” Lucifer sighed almost nostalgic. “Punk could throw down hard for such a whiny douche. To be fair, he got suspended too.”

“Am I missing something?” Sam looked up from where he’d been racking the balls, rolling the wooden triangle up and down the table. “What kind of ‘card trick’ earns you a suspension?”

Lucifer just laughed, still far too happy at the memory of how stupid and cocky younger him had been. 

“Can you still do it?” Michael asked, and the eagerness to his tone should have been a warning, but Lucifer had already had too much to drink. 

“I mean, yeah. Course I can,” and he started to collect up his game of solitaire, laughing at the idea that he might have somehow managed to forget how to do, in his opinion, a fantastic magic trick even after all these years.

Gabriel bounced. 

“Kelvin,” Lucifer looked around, finding the man half sitting on the edge of a low bookcase. “Come here.”

His ‘boyfriend’ slowly shook his head. “I don’t do that  _ brave volunteer from the audience _ thing, Luci.”

“I will,” Gabriel hopped up, coming closer up until he caught the expression on Lucifer’s face.

“Fuck no,” he stuck a leg out, pushing his heel into his brother’s shins to keep him at bay. “Absolutely not. It’s―”

“Sam, go,” Michael volunteered his boyfriend, giving the younger man a push towards the couch. “It’s a good trick.”

All protests died in Lucifer’s throat as Sam hesitantly came closer. 

_ This  _ is what Michael was doing?

Lucifer looked at his twin, hoping his expression was threatening, but knowing it probably came off mostly confused and concerned. 

He had no idea what his brother was up to, or why, only that he didn’t like it. 

“I, um… I can’t do it right now. I don’t have a pen,” Lucifer struggled for any excuse to turn Sam away or postpone this long enough for him to corner Michael and demand to know what was going on in that head of his. 

Michael was apparently determined to be a real bitch about this though and supplied a felt tip marker out of seemingly nowhere.

“Thank you,” Lucifer said tightly, taking the pen. 

This wasn’t a trick he could just  _ do _ without prepping the deck of cards. The tequila making his fingers slow and threatening to let out a nervous laugh if he didn’t stay focused, Lucifer made Sam move the coffee table closer, and shift the pile of jackets off the couch to the floor. He had Sam do pretty much anything he could think of to buy some time while he crossed his legs underneath himself, making space for Sam beside him, trying not to look at the rest of the room. 

Once he ran out of distractions for Sam, he reshuffled the cards one last unnecessary time. 

He looked Sam squarely in the cheek, desperately trying to find where he’d left his confidence, dimly aware of the fact that he’d been drowning it in tequila for the last half hour. He thought he might have been ok, if not a little eager, if it were just the two of them down here. However, the audience made him nervous. 

“So, you know…” Lucifer cleared his throat, “normal card trick here. Go ahead, take a card, any card.”

Sam laughed a little too brightly, and it was obvious that he’d been drinking too, which only made this whole thing more dubious. The guy pulled one of the fanned out cards from between Lucifer’s hands before holding it to his chest. “Ok.”

“Well go ahead and look at it,” Lu encouraged. “It’s  _ your _ card.”

Taking a covert peek, the other man nodded.

“Ok, but like, it’s not a secret. You don’t have to hide the card.”

“Oh,” Sam laughed again, lowering the card and letting the rest of the room see that he’d picked the ten of hearts. 

“Got it?” Lu asked, offering out the marker his brother than given him. “So that’s your card, and just so you don’t forget, go ahead and write your name on it. It’s ok,” he added when Sam hesitated.

The guy took the pen, twirling it between his fingers before popping the cap and scrawling SAM over the top row of hearts.

Lucifer plucked the card from Sam’s left hand before taking the pen and slipping it behind an ear. He held the card close to his lips, blowing on the ink before folding it over itself, hiding the writing and numbers. 

“You going to make it disappear now?” Sam asked with what seemed to be a good attempt at scepticism, though his eyes were dancing with excitement. 

“Not quite,” Lucifer said, carefully folding the card in half once more and holding it out at face level with Sam. “Go ahead and put this between your teeth, just bite down on it for me.

Raising an eyebrow, the other man took the card and lightly bit down on the edge of it.

Lucifer flipped the top card of the deck over. “I guess this one’ll be mine,” he shrugged and wrote a large L over the face of the card before capping the pen and tucking it behind Sam’s ear this time. Lucifer made a show of blowing on the second card just the same, holding it so close before folding it in half. 

“Go ahead and put your card in you mouth… yeah, all the way,” Lucifer encouraged, hating that the best part of the trick was about to be ruined by the audience of four other people watching. He folded the card once more, and took one last sip from his cup before smiling. “So… if there’s one thing I ever learned from all those damn Disney princess movies Mike made me watch growing up, is that one of the most tried and true sources of magic still found in this world, is… is in a kiss.” 

Sam’s eyebrows shot up.

Placing the carefully folded card he was still holding into his own mouth, Lucifer leaned in.

Even slightly drunk was not drunk enough to keep Sam from giving him such a look. 

Lucifer tapped his lips with a fingertip, expectant and doing his best not to look at the rest of the room. Sam did though. Sam glanced to the others with a questioning tilt to his head.

“You have to for the trick to work,” Michael encouraged, laughing. “It’s magic.”

Sam’s lips pursed in a bemused smile as he struggled to hold in his amusement. With happy, uneven breaths of laughter, he turned back to Lucifer. The man still had a mouthful of playing card and couldn’t speak, but even without words his feelings on this trick were apparent in the way he rolled his eyes before leaning in to press a soft kiss against Lucifer’s lips.

It was such a good trick without an audience.

Lucifer pulled back, taking the card from his mouth before saying, “Well, that could hardly count as a kiss, but let’s see if it worked.” He unfolded the card he’d been holding, showing Sam the ten of hearts with the other man’s name scribbled over the top row of hearts.

Looking stunned, Sam pulled the card from his own mouth, quickly unfolding it. With almost childlike glee, he giggled and showed Lucifer the big L on the card he’d been holding. “How the hell did you do that?”

“I told you.  _ Magic _ ,” Lucifer tried his best to sound as cool and confident as his teenage self had always managed in situations like this. Instead he ended up giggling along with Sam, curling against the back of the couch and thinking that perhaps he could wait until tomorrow throttle his brother and demand to know just what the hell he was up to. 

For right now it was enough to let Sam steal a long swallow of his drink. With wet coughs breaking up his laughter, he held the cup out. “It was a good trick.”

“A  _ very  _ good trick,” Lucifer took his cup back, still laughing as he turned it between his hands and put his mouth over the same place the other man had just drunk from, pretending he could still taste any of Sam under the sharp burn of tequila. 


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> two weeks for an updates is waaaay too long, and I'm sorry.   
I had a convention, so there was only time for painting and prepwork, and no energy for writing. Then I was home and very sick with the con-germs, as is tradition. Glad to be back in a writing flow <3  
Hope this new year is treating you all well so far.   
Hope y'all are warm, and have good food to eat, and good friends and pets near at hand.

Sam spent most of his morning working off a hangover, taking pills and drinking whatever Michael put in front of him. It wasn’t the worst headache he’d had by far, and he still remembered almost all of the night before, but he was also fairly certain that he never wanted to drink tequila ever again. 

He slept off most of the morning, and spent a chunk of the afternoon eating cold pasta and watching June sketching a very complicated design over twenty or so napkins that she’d taped together on the dining room table. She’d tried to explain to him how she was working out ideas for a back piece she might be tattooing one a client once they got back from vacation―but Sam didn’t really care why she was drawing. He simply enjoyed getting to watch. It all had the same sort of soothing peacefulness as watching a Bob Ross rerun, letting his eyes follow the flowing lines and simply not thinking about much of anything. Which was a mental break he could only indulge in for so long before he found the keys to Lucifer’s truck and got his backpack, so he could settle in beside the fireplace with a law book and his stack of flashcards.

He was two chapters in when hands folded over his shoulders and the soft smell of Michael’s aftershave tickled his nose. 

“Hey,” Sam mumbled, turning his cheek towards his boyfriend to get a soft kiss behind his ear.

“I know you’re worried about maintaining that beautiful GPA of yours,” Michael rested his chin on Sam’s head, “but couldn’t you let yourself take a full week off?”

“It’s  _ light  _ studying.”

“No such thing,” Michael murmured, doing a fine job pretending that he didn’t have one of his own textbooks beside the bed they’d shared last night. “We were talking about going into town. You want to come with?”

Sam let his head fall back against Michael’s chest, smiling up at him. “Sure?”

“Grocery shopping, maybe a little sightseeing,” he offered, snaking his arms around Sam’s shoulders and giving him a small squeeze. “Rumor has it you’ve never been up here before. There’s a viking museum and some super kitchy shops.”

“Sounds awesome.”

“Yay,” Mike kissed the top of his head twice before letting go. “I’ll tell Lu that you’re coming.”

“Yay?” Sam repeated in a whisper as he turned to watch his boyfriend walk off into the house. 

Last night wasn’t a black out drinking sort of night, like all the other times that Sam had been dumb enough to drink in proximity to Lucifer―and even still, somehow Sam had managed to kiss the guy. 

Sam had a problem, but it wasn’t one he was ready to address just yet.

Or at any point during that day. 

A plan of avoidance that would have worked better if he didn’t end up separated from his boyfriend once they got to town. Apparently, Mike didn’t trust either Gabe or Luci to do the grocery shopping, and it needed to get done, so he took Kelvin along to help pick out some proper food for the next few days.

And then Gabriel saw a cake shop and dragged June away.

“You hungry?” Lucifer offered, nodding after the two blondes jogging across the snowy street. 

“Not for cake,” Sam laughed.

“Still want to go to the viking museum?”

Sam pulled his coat tighter around himself. “If it’s out of this snow? I’d love to.”

“My thoughts exactly,” Lucifer’s usual irritability melting away as he smiled and gestured in the opposite direction that everyone else had run off in. 

They got two steps down the road before hitting an icy spot. Sam went sliding sideways and Lucifer would have hit the pavement if he hadn’t grabbed Sam’s arm, which twisted them both and landed them in a snow bank that wasn’t nearly deep enough to cushion their fall. 

Sam managed to sit up, laughing through the pain and rubbing tenderly at his shoulder and hip. He would have asked the other man if he was alright, but judging from the colorful slur of profanities rising up from the dent in the snow beside him, Lucifer was doing just about the same. 

An unsteady hand reached out and slapped Sam in the center of his chest. 

“You broken, Sammy?” Lucifer asked a little breathless. 

“Think I’ll make it,” he promised, patting the other man’s hand in reassurance. “You?”

Grumbling in answer, Lucifer pushed himself up and shook snow from his hair. “Can we please not tell anyone about this?”

Sam got to his feet, grinning and offering out a hand up. “Tell anyone about what?”

Lucifer grabbed his arm and hauled himself to his feet, but instantly crumpled back downward, hissing between his teeth followed by a wounded mantra of, “F-fuck, fuck, fuck.”

Crouching down beside him, Sam pulled an arm around Lucifer’s shoulders. “Hey, you alright?”

“Fuckin’ peachy,” he said between sharp breaths. 

“What hurts?” Sam tried to be a little more direct.

“I just― I just twisted my ankle. It’s fine,” he lied very poorly, shrugging off Sam’s arm and trying to stand back up. Stubbornness didn’t get him too far, and in half a step he was clumsily reaching for Sam like a lifeline.

With no hesitation at all, Sam snaked an arm around the other man’s waist and took most of his weight. “So, uh, you wanna’ hobble back to the truck?”

Lucifer narrowed his eyes, his mouth a tight with pain and irritation.

Sam nodded as if he’d been given an answer, and slowly tugged the other man along the half block back to the rusty old truck. Lucifer was warm against his side, muttering angrily with each limping step they took. Stranger’s passing them on the sidewalk gave them worried looks.

“Mike is going to give me hell for this,” the injured man sighed once they reached the truck. Fumbling his keys from his pocket, and refusing as much help as was offered, Lucifer opened the driver’s side door and sat down with a heavy sigh. 

“We don’t have to tell him,” Sam offered, holding onto the door, lingering close as he fought to think of anything at all he could do to help.

“I’m sure this will be super easy to hide this from him,” Lucifer chuckled bitterly. Resting a shoulder against the steering wheel, he started to tug up his pant leg, obviously wanting to asses the damage he’d done.

“Yeah,” Sam snorted, pulling out his phone, “as long as you don’t have to stand or walk or move, he’ll never suspect a thing.”

Lucifer straightened, eyes narrowing. “Why are you texting my brother?”

Sam held the phone close to his chest, taking a step back. “I’m telling Mike that I’ve got a sudden headache and you’re taking me back to the cabin,” he lied.

“You― you don’t have to go back with me,” the fire went out of Lucifer in a rush as he shifted uncomfortably in the driver's seat. “We came all the way out here so you could do some sightseeing. You can go catch up with Gabe and June, or Mike. I’ll just―”

“No,” Sam cut him off, walking around the front of the truck. They were going home. Michael’s near panicked texts left no room for argument. The fifth rapid fire text from his boyfriend came through and Sam stopped in his tracks, sighing to himself as he turned back around and returned to Lucifer’s still open door. “Scoot down. You’re not allowed to drive with a hurt ankle,” he repeated Mike’s text almost verbatim.

It probably said something about how bad he was hurting, that Lucifer only huffed softly and slid down to the passenger’s seat. 

“You’ll need to give me directions back to the cabin.” Sam frowned at his phone, texting Mike to please pick up some bandages to wrap Luci’s ankle. Shaking his head, he climbed into the driver’s seat and started the engine. 

Lucifer glanced up from his rummaging through the glove box. “You really don’t have to.”

“You’re going to go lay on a couch, put your foot up― take a handfull of aspirin? Ok, but you shouldn’t take that many.”

Glancing up from the six pills in his hand, Lucifer slowly dropped two of the pills back into the bottle before returning it to the glovebox and dry swallowing what was probably still too much medicine. 

“I―” Sam let out a sharp breath. It wasn’t going to kill the guy, but it probably wasn’t good for him either. 

“It’s fine. It’s fine,” Lucifer rubbed both his eyes, before pointing vaguely at the road and began giving directions on how to get back to the cabin. 

The whole drive there Sam’s phone kept going off in his pocket, undoubtedly more worried texts from Michael. Well deserved worried texts. It wasn’t until he’d helped Lucifer limp his way into the cabin and to the nearest couch, that he was able to take out this phone and check his twelve unread messages. 

“You know, we could just let Mike know what happened,” Sam suggested as he read, glossing over the fact that he’d already explained the whole thing.

Lucifer made a disgusted noise.

Looking up from the little screen, Sam saw that the other man had started to struggle with his shoes, all his movements hesitant and followed by a sharp wince.

“It’s sort of his job. Taking care of people.”

“People,” Lucifer dropped a snow damp shoe onto the carpet, “not me. He doesn’t need to fuss over me. I’m fine.”

“Yeah. Obviously.” Sam put his phone on the fireplace mantle and sat down at the far end of the couch. Ignoring the protests, he pulled Lucifer’s hurt leg into his lap and started to push up his pant leg. “I mean, he’s got medical training and who wants that when they’re hurt.”

“It’s not that bad,” Lucifer complained through clenched teeth. “And it’ll only stress him out. I’m fine. It feels better already.”

Going off the long checklist of instructions he’d been texted, Sam pressed the palm of his hand to the top of the man’s foot. “Can you push against me?”

A man who’d made his stance on being taken care of clear, Lucifer defiantly folded his arms over his chest. “I could if I wanted to.”

“Humor me,” Sam sighed. He knew he was lacking the proper bedside manner for this sort of thing. It was worse than trying to take care of Dean, but he was still going to try his best.

Begrudgingly Lucifer gave a weak foot wiggle, making a soft humming sound in the back of his throat the whole time. 

“I think that means nothing’s broken.”

“Well  _ hooray _ .” Lucifer let his head fall back as he pushed both hands through his hair. 

Sam did his best to doctor, as per Mike’s instructions. Checking for swelling or bruising, making sure there wasn’t any loss of feeling. He tried to be both thorough and careful, though he had a feeling he was failing on both fronts as Lucifer finally sat up and grabbed his wrists. 

He didn’t say anything. Just held onto Sam and made an awful lot of eye contact. 

“Ok,” Sam promised all the same. “I’m going to get you some ice.” 

“Can I get some scotch around the ice?”

“No,” he grinned, sliding out from under Lucifer’s leg and going to the kitchen.

“Come on,” the other man called after him. “I’ll make it worth your while.”

“Luci, you don’t have anything I want,” Sam teased.

His phone went off again as he was dumping a handful of ice into a ziplock bag. One more text from Mike and Sam set down the ice to actually answer back. 

**we’re ok. He’s resting. Nothing looks broken or bruised, ankle is just a little swollen.**

Mike was quick to reply,  **Ice him. Elevate the foot. If he wants later he can sit in the hot tub for a bit but just a little bit**

Sam smiled at how very worried those clipped words felt.  **You going to be back soon?** He typed out, not sure if the return of his boyfriend would be a good thing or not, seeing as Mike wasn’t supposed to know about the injury. Despite the promises that his boyfriend had made to not fuss over Lucifer, it was obvious that he’d have a very hard time pretending he knew nothing about what had happened.

**I want to be, but if he’s doing ok I’ll give him some space?** **Maybe the rest of us will just grab dinner out here in town **There was a two second pause before he sent,** You’re sure he’s ok?**

Apparently their conversation was taking too long though as Lucifer called from the other room, “Did you die?”

“Nope,” Sam laughed and texted one last promise to Mike that he’d take care of Lucifer. “I’m coming. Just had a bit of trouble finding the ice.”

“Sammy… you worry me.”

“Good,” he came back to the couch, setting the ice pack over the man’s extended ankle, and taking small pleasure in the way that Lucifer cringed and pulled a sour face. “You’re allowed to sit in the hot tub later.”

“Thanks, doc,” he drawled and fell backwards, his toes slowly curling and uncurling.

“You… going to take a nap?” Sam hesitated to sit down.

Crossing his arms over his head, he quietly mumbled, “I just want to be flat for a bit.”

He also needed a blanket, and a soda, and youtube on his phone, and could Sam just sit down next to him and keep him company for a little bit if he didn’t have anything else to do? 

Sam wasn’t used to being needed, especially by someone who was normally so standoffish. Even if he did have something else to do, he would have set it aside to stay on the couch, with Lucifer using his thigh as a pillow, watching videos about baking on the other man’s phone. 

It was easy to lose track of time like that, and it was already getting dark outside when Lucifer tilted his head back to look up at Sam and ask, “Can we go to warm up in the hot tub?”

“ _ You  _ can. I’m alright.”

“You’re going to make me go sit outside by myself.”

“I didn’t bring any swim trunks with me,” Sam laughed. “You know, seeing as I was told to pack for the cold…”

Lucifer lay there looking up at him for what felt like forever, his expression so very unreadable, before he finally said, “Well, I didn’t either. I just figured we could―”

“I’m  _ not  _ skinny dipping in the snow.” He chuckled, but it devolved into full bellied laughter at the look of horror on the other man’s face. 

“Boxers. Sam. Not skinny dipping. Boxers.”

“Oh,” still laughing, he managed to squeak out, “Yeah. That makes more sense.” 

Lucifer didn’t laugh, instead sitting up while still shooting Sam a very uneasy look. 

“Not flirting,” Sam wiped actual tears from his eyes, “just boxers.”

Lucifer stubbornly and slowly got to his feet, still very gentle about putting weight on his bad leg. “Well now I don’t even want you to come too, you weirdo.”

“Too bad,” Sam stood, holding out an arm for support. “I’m keeping you company. Got to make sure you don’t drown or something.”

In the most angry way possible, Lucifer took his arm, grumbling to himself about ‘ _ you jerk _ ’ and ‘ _ hot tub _ ’. Sam hummed along in agreement and helped walk the limping man out to the back porch. The outside was dark and it was cold, but the glow of lights from inside was plenty for him to see by. Setting Lucifer to one side, Sam pulled the cover off the hot tub and nodded in satisfaction when he saw steam rising from the surface of the water. He’d done a good job fixing the thing, and he needed to remember to tell his brother about it. 

He turned back to Lucifer asking, “How do you want to…” trailing off when he saw the other man was already aggressively taking off his clothes, apparently in a rush to get into the hot tub. Not surprising considering they were standing in the snow. “Do you need help?”

Lucifer glanced up, mid unbuttoning his pants. 

“Getting in the hot tub…” For some reason Sam was suddenly having a hard time remembering what it was he had been trying to offer. “It’s a-a high step up.”

The man said nothing, just left his jeans in the snow. He pushed himself up to sitting on the edge of the hot tub before carefully swinging his legs around as he turned and sank into the water. Only his head and shoulders peeking out of the water, he glanced back at Sam. “Get in. Stop making it weird.”

“Yeah.  _ I’m _ the one making it weird,” Sam muttered under his breath. 

It was far too cold for anyone to be outside like they were. Too cold for Sam to be taking off his clothes after brushing snow off the top of a barbecue grill so he’d have a dry place to put them. The night air felt like being punched in the gut, all the wind pushed out of him and chills started to immediately lock up his joints. 

“F-fuck fuck fuck, goddamn it’s cold,” he sang through his chattering teeth as he scurried to get into the hot water. Like a warm hug, he let himself sink down into the soothing heat of the water, closing his eyes. “Ok, but this is actually really nice.”

Lucifer nodded before letting his head fall back against the edge of the tub. “A good idea.”

Sam followed suit, looking up at the stars where they peeked here and there between the clouds. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been somewhere so quiet. No distractions. No problems. It left way too much room for his mind to wander, and for some reason with all that space to think, his mind seemed to fixate on one single thing. 

“Hey, it’s really none of my business, but… was that a unicorn tattoo on your hip?”

Lucifer almost laughed, this startled, embarrassed sound escaping him. “Yeah.”

Sam sat up, grinning. 

“It was a good lesson for me.” He sank low enough that his chin touched water. “Never get a tattoo when drunk.”

“I mean, it’s sort of dark out here, but it looked nice at least?”

“Oh yeah, June’s a great artist. It’s still a unicorn and pretty flowers though.” He shook his head. “She said I was very specific that it had to be a unicorn, because ‘girls dig unicorns’... but I’m still not sure if I believe her. When I sobered up I tried getting mad about it, but it’s actually kind of cool, and surprisingly most girls really do dig unicorns… so?” He shrugged.

Sam wanted to ask if he could get a better look at it, maybe when they were back inside. A tightness low in his stomach pointed out that asking to see his boyfriend’s brothers hips more closely could be easily misinterpreted. Not flirting. Just curiosity. At least that’s what Sam told himself very firmly. 

It was  _ not _ flirting.

“Hey,” he started, “can I―” but frowned when he saw headlights coming up the road, nearly blinding lights flickering through the trees lining the property. 

“Can you what?” Lucifer asked, sitting up straighter and watching the lights. 

“Nothing,” Sam let out a breath. “It’s nothing.”

From the back they could hear the other four people going into the house, a lot of talking and laughing. Sam and Lucifer sat in what little quiet they had left, almost like they were hiding. It didn’t help that this awful guilty feeling had taken up residence inside Sam, like he was afraid of being caught out here in the hot tub with Lucifer, even though they were doing absolutely nothing wrong. 

June was the first one to find them, throwing open the back door and cheering softly. “The hot tub works!”

“Yay,” Lucifer answered her happy shout with significantly less enthusiasm. 

“And it’s got naked guys in it!” She grinned at them, as if this were a good bonus feature to discover. 

Sam stood, breath catching as the cold wrapped around his upper body. “Not naked,” he said, pointing to the waistband of his boxers.

“That’s significantly less exciting, and calls for wine,” she decided quickly before going back inside. 

Sitting back down and hugging himself, Sam looked to the other man. “How are you going to get out of the tub without your brother noticing your limp?” A problem he was hoping would mean that they could just tell Mike what happened, and seeing as he already knew, it would simplify everything. 

Lucifer ran his hands through his short hair, water trailing down the sides of his face. “I’ll use you as a distraction. You’re very distracting.”

“You think you can get out of the tub on your own?”

A simple frown said no. Lucifer sighed, glancing back to the house before saying, “I’ll get Kelvin to help. It’s fine.”

“Ok,” Sam offered a smile. “Just let me know when and I’ll get your brother out of the way.”

Right up until June came sprinting outside, bare feet through the snow, long legs swinging her over the edge of the hottub, Sam hadn’t considered that he’d sat himself exactly opposite of Lucifer. With the extra company, company that had stripped down to basically nothing, Sam suddenly found himself having to decide who he’d rather not sit next to. 

On one hand, Lucifer was Lucifer.

And on the other, June’s long hair had been pulled up, leaving dark bra straps and the edges of a detailed chest tattoo visible above the steaming waterline, and though she was built like a runner the curve of her breasts were hard to ignore―and Sam found himself strongly reminded of the fact that he’d tentatively labelled himself as bisexual. 

He moved closer to Lucifer, ignoring the narrow look he was given. 

“You boys missed a really great dinner,” June almost sang as she sank down up to her chin. “We found a great Italian restaurant out on the edge of the lake. We brought home some leftovers for you guys.” She turned a sympathetic eye to Sam, “You feeling better?”

It took longer than he wanted to remember that he’d told Mike to tell the others that he’d come back to the cabin with a headache. “A lot better, yeah.”

“And your leg?” She rolled her head to one side, looking up at her friend. 

“Yeah, it’s…” any smile Lucifer might have had vanished and he turned sharply to look at Sam. “You told Mike.”

“I was worried.” Sam inched away. 

“I told you I was fine.”

“Yeah, well, neither of us are doctors, and a second opinion sounded like a good idea.”

“Traitor,” Lu hissed, obviously angry, but it felt mostly just for show.

And if Sam hadn’t grown up with Dean, he might have been a little intimidated by the brooding man beside him. 

“Ok, but you’re welcome,” Sam folded his arms. 

Before Lucifer could come up with an equally sarcastic remark, June was sliding between the two of them, defusing any tension with a gentle arm around both men’s shoulders. 

“It’s so god damn beautiful out here,” June breathed up at the sky with a cloudy breath. “You boys weren’t too busy bitching at each other to notice the majesty. Right?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Lucifer grumbled, “ _ the majesty _ .”

Sam was far more used to his brother invading his space, or Michael pleasantly crowding him. A girl was different and Sam found himself smiling. “It is nice,” he agreed.

Thankfully they were joined by the rest of the party and Sam was able to slide over beside Michael where he felt far more sure of himself. 

“Hey,” Sam placed a kiss in the hollow of his boyfriend’s cheek, getting a soft kiss back in return.

“Hey,” Michael repeated, whispering in Sam’s ear, “is he ok?”

“He’s fine, and he knows that you know he’s hurt, so…”

Michael leaned back with a relieved sigh, placing a hand over his heart as he turned to his twin. “Thank god. Do you know how worried I’ve been?”

Lucifer closed his eyes, like a child pretending he couldn’t hear a thing. 

“I could hardly even eat,” Mike kept on. “Sam refused to take a picture of your ankle, and then he stopped texting back, and I know you’re not dying or anything but it’s freaking me out not knowing how you’re doing.”

Lucifer pressed his mouth into a thin, irritated line and continued to ignore his brother.

“Oh. I’m sure Luci is perfectly fine.” Kelvin chuckled, thumbing a line of water from the other man’s jaw in a way so comfortable and familiar that Sam had to frown before remembering that the two men were slightly dating. 

The fact that their closeness bothered Sam was far more upsetting than he’d been ready to sort out at that moment, and he didn’t know why.

“Of course he is,” Michael kept on though, which was a pleasant distraction. “It’s that same  _ fine  _ as last year when he had a really bad cough for a month, but it wasn’t a big deal, and the fact that he had to get hospitalised for pneumonia around the same time was just a weird coincidence.”

“I remember that,” Kelvin laughed, not helping. “You were a mess.”

Lucifer started making an irritated sound low in his throat, a sound that did not deter anyone in the slightest. 

It was like Michael had a list of injuries ready at the top of his tongue. “The same kind of fine you were when you stepped on that nail and didn’t need to go to the hospital or anything because you really, really didn’t get an infection?”

The growl of a sound continued as Lucifer started to sink low in the water, pressing his hands over his face like he could hide from the criticism.

Gabriel apparently decided to help, piping up, “Oh! How about that time he was perfectly fine and didn’t need stitches for that cut on his leg that  _ eventually  _ healed on its own but left an awesome scar?”

Michael nodded along, and Sam got the feeling that this was not the first time this list of stupid stubbornness had been put together on Lucifer’s account. 

Not to be left out, June gave her friend a squeeze around the shoulders. “I remember when we were in school and you swam into a wall during a race and almost definitely had a concussion. That was the best. Loved arguing with a half-unconscious man who refused to go to the hospital.”

Lucifer sank lower, almost nose deep in the hot water. 

“Or my favorite,” Mike continued, “that one time you came home a little after we’d moved out of Mom and Dad’s, and you’d obviously been in a fight. You remember that, right? When you had at least a few broken ribs, and two broken fingers? Yep. You were totally fine that time too.”

Obviously having enough, the condemned man went entirely under the water, only a fringe of his light hair still drifting on the surface. 

Earlier in the day Sam had thought that Michael’s concern over his brother’s twisted ankle, all those worried texts, had been a bit of an overreaction. But, maybe he’d actually been playing it cool by not immediately rushing back to the cabin when he’d found out about the injury. 

Mike rested his head on Sam’s shoulder, watching his brother’s very bad hiding across from them. “He’s always been like this;  _ perfectly fine _ . I’m the closest thing to a doctor he’s seen since we were kids and―damn it, Lu.” Sitting up, he slapped the water on either side of his brother’s head until Lucifer surfaced. 

Grumbling a sullen reminder of, “It’s only a twisted ankle,” Lucifer rested his head back against the edge of the hot tub, the long line of his neck curved as he looked up at the sky. 

He looked ready to pout his way through the rest of the evening. 

And to be fair, he was a man who was very good at pouting.

.:.

Sam couldn’t sleep―not a problem his boyfriend had. Michael’s slow even breaths said that he’d finally passed out nearly an hour ago, which had left Sam tossing and turning with only his thoughts to keep him company. 

He’d considered texting Dean, but his phone said it was after midnight, which meant it was much later for his brother. This wasn’t anything that he needed to wake Dean up for―if only because Sam didn’t know what  _ this _ was. He just couldn’t sleep. It happened.

As gently as possible, he slid from the bed. Before he left the room he tucked Mike in and kissed his cheek like he was trying to prove a point to himself that there wasn’t anything wrong between the two of them.

A couple boxes of tea had been unearthed in the kitchen cabinet the day before and that might be what Sam needed. And if the tea didn’t do it, there was harder stuff to drink that had a good track record for putting Sam out flat, so that could work too. 

It was a simple enough plan, right up until he tiptoed down the stairs and saw the glow from the fireplace. All the other downstairs lights were off, so aside from the crackling, rosy light, everything else was in deep shadows. Which was the excuse that Sam was going with for how he didn’t notice Lucifer until they tripped over one another.

With his heart in his throat, Sam pressed himself to the wall, while Lucifer looked up at him in wide-eyed horror before pulling out an earbud.

Music played very softly, too quiet to hear beyond a fast baseline.

“Hey,” Sam whispered, noticing the very full wineglass in the other man’s hand.

“Didn’t your mom ever teach you not to sneak up on people?”

“Sorry,” he insisted, trying not to laugh as he watched Lucifer put his earbud back in and sway off towards the fire, humming softly. Other plans forgotten for the time being, Sam followed. “Your ankle seems to be feeling better.”

Lucifer sank down to the couch, overly cautious not to spill any of his drink. His pale eyes darted up and he jumped slightly when he noticed Sam rounding the edge of the couch. The earbud came back out and the man tilted his head to one side. “What?”

“Your ankle,” Sam tried not to smile, sitting down with a full cushion between them, “it’s feeling better?”

“Can’t even feel it anymore.” Lucifer grinned warmly.

“That’s not your first glass of wine tonight, is it?”

“It’s not my first  _ bottle  _ tonight,” he whispered over the rim of the glass, very nearly giggling.

Sam grinned, doing his best to hold back a laugh of his own. “Are you drunk?”

“Are  _ you  _ drunk?”

This felt like a rare opportunity, and Sam was instantly far too invested in the rosy cheeked, giggling man beside him. Pulling his leg up under him, Sam turned to sit sideways on the couch. Thinking about the first time he’d met this man, and then about New Year’s Eve, he asked curiously, “Have I ever seen you drunk before?”

“You,” Lucifer pointed a finger squarely at Sam’s nose before poking him, “you have not, because I get drunk all by myself.”

Sam leaned back far enough to escape the poking. “Thank you―and that’s a terrible plan.”

“It’s a  _ great  _ plan,” he corrected, swallowing a mouthful of dark wine, humming in satisfaction. Lucifer looked at Sam, getting the sort of thoughtful confused look that drunk people did so well. Slowly he offered out his glass, and asked, “Wanna’ join me?” 

“Join you in getting drunk by yourself?”

He nodded vigorously, taking one of Sam’s hands and curling it around the glass. “It’s wine, so you have to sip it… like a fancy person.”

“Oh,” Sam bit back a laugh. “Ok.” The wine tasted so much better than any other alcohol he’d tried so far, sweet and not at all like burning. 

“No.” Lucifer pushed at his arm, insisting, “ _ More _ fancy.”

Very quickly Sam discovered that he wasn’t going to be able to live up to this man’s notion of ‘fancy’, and chuckling, he handed the glass back. “I think I’ll leave it up to the professionals.”

Lucifer nodded, placing a sympathetic hand on Sam’s shoulder. “It’s ok. Not everyone’s cut out to be fancy.”

He didn’t really think about the movement, just laughing and happy with how different and unexpected this little glimpse of Lucifer was, Sam placed his hand over his friend’s. Their fingers twisted together so comfortably like they’d done it a hundred times before. “You doing ok?”

“Super ok,” Lucifer assured.

“Just up in the middle of the night drinking alone… for fun?”

“For fun and profit,” he nodded, making just as much sense as any drunk person ever did. He raised their hands, looking at Sam’s fingers for a long moment before lightly pressing his very warm lips to Sam’s knuckles.

It took two tries for Sam to get out a confused, “Alright…”

“You look tired,” Lucifer noted, still holding Sam’s hand. “You should go to bed.”

“I tried. Can’t sleep.”

“Drinking helps,” he said with so much staggering wisdom. 

Sam shook his head, “I think I’ll get there eventually.”

“You  _ hope _ you’ll get there.” His eyes went round with sudden concern. “Maybe you’ll just be awake for forever.”

“God, I hope not.” Sam slowly pulled his hand back. “I… I’ve just got a lot on my mind.”

“School?”

“Michael.”

“Michael sucks.”

Shaking his head, Sam resisted the urge to say ‘I wish’. Instead he gently stole the glass of wine and finished it off. This was probably neither the time or the place to talk about this, and definitely not the person to talk to about this. Knowing all that, Sam let out a deep breath and asked, “You remember that night we dragged you to the gym?”

Lucifer wrinkled his nose, rubbing his hands over his face before slowly nodding. 

“That morning was the last time Mike and me… you know.”

“Went to the gym?”

Sam cleared his throat. 

“Oh,” Lucifer nodded, frowning. “That’s like… that was a long time ago.”

It was over two weeks, which was starting to feel like months at this point. “I get a kiss on the cheek now and then but… but that’s it. And now I’m starting to think maybe… maybe I’m just bad at it and he’s done with me.”

Lucifer blinked slowly at him, giving Sam a look that clearly said he was either too drunk for this, or not yet drunk enough. “I’m sure it’s not… it’s not that.”

“What else could it be?” Sam had been stuck on the idea since Mike had kissed both his cheeks good night and kept far too much room between them on the bed while they talked like old friends instead of kissing and touching like Sam had been wanting to do. 

“Have you considered that my brother’s an idiot?”

Sam rolled his eyes. “Or he’s just tired of bad sex and he’s too nice to say anything.”

“Listen up, Sammy, there are only two easy rules for good sex.” Lucifer counted them off on his fingers are he spoke. “First, communication. Second, Lubrication. And that’s it. Seriously. That’s all there is to it.”

Sam swallowed a laugh.

“And if my brother managed to fuck that up, then it’s his fault. But,” he poked Sam in the chest with a very deliberate frown, “I’m sure fucking you is fucking awesome, and it’s something else going on in my brother’s big dumb head. He’s probably just still too worried about my stupid leg. Hard to fool around when you’re worried.”

“Yeah?” It was the weirdest pep talk he’d ever been given, but it was still oddly comforting. “Thanks.”

Lucifer blew out a dismissive breath, waving the appreciation away.

“I mean it.” Sam shifted awkwardly. “I thought about calling my brother but… it’s just kind of nice to have a friend that’s here to talk to.”

“That’s right. You’ve got a big brother,” Lucifer got this distant and thoughtful look, pulling at his lower lip before asking, “Is he half as good looking as you, and more importantly, does he go for guys?”

Sam laughed louder than he’d intended, quickly covering his mouth and hoping that no one upstairs heard him. “Dean… he’s never had a hard time getting girls―if that’s a good enough answer for both questions?”

Rolling his eyes, Lucifer took the empty glass still in Sam’s hands. “What a waste.”

“The wine or my brother being straight?”

“Both,” he said rather decisively. “You could at least have the decency to have a hot older brother like I did. It’s called being a good friend.” 

“Sorry I didn’t have the forethought to be born a twin, with a handsome gay brother for you.”

“A leggy older sister would have been equally good.”

Sam grinned, shaking his head. “Again, sorry.”

“You should be,” Lucifer laid down as much shame as he could before sliding off the couch, taking up his empty glass and drifting back to the kitchen. “Here I am, trying to be a good friend to the kid in love with my dumb ass brother, and you can’t even be bothered to have a hot sister.”

It was all gentle teasing.

Lucifer keeping up his rambling tirade while he bumped and shuffled through the kitchen, staggering cautiously back to the couch with two half-full glasses of wine held up very high like he somehow thought the elevation would keep them from spilling. 

He stood over Sam, backlit by the fireplace, hesitantly offering one of the glasses down. “You look sad, Sammy. Stop it. You can’t drink with me if you’re sad.”

“I-I’m not,” he shook his head, smiling very deliberately as he took the drink. “I was just thinking.”

“That’s how you get yourself in trouble,” Lucifer scrunched his nose and looked at Sam. “Don’t think. Just drink.”

“Worst advice I’ve ever been given,” he laughed quietly, tapping his glass against the other man’s. 

“That’s me,” Lucifer said proudly. “The expert giver of expert bad advice, and I don’t even charge for it. You’re welcome. Now make some room,” he slapped a hand at Sam’s knees.

Sam, not understanding what the man was wanting exactly, started to unfold himself, shifting so he wasn’t sitting on his folded legs, but before he could turn and put his feet on the ground he found himself with a lapful of drunk Lucifer. The other man sat himself between Sam’s knees, stretching his long legs out down the length of the couch, leaning back to rest his head against Sam’s chest. 

“Oh, um, alright… Luci?”

“Yup.”

“What the hell are you doing?”

“Getting comfortable.”

“On me?”

“It would seem that way.”

A funny feeling twisting in his stomach, Sam let out a long breath and watched the way it rustled the other man’s hair. There were a lot of questions he wanted to ask right then, ones that felt important, but he left them all alone except the one that had been rattling around in his head since Lucifer had gone to get more drinks.

“Lu… have you ever been in love?”

The man in his lap paused with his drink halfway to his mouth, slowly rolling his head to one side to give Sam a very strange look. “What about our ‘more drinking less thinking’ plan did you not get?” 

“Come on, it’s not a weird question to ask a friend,” Sam was almost certain. 

Lucifer smiled and returned to his drink. “Yeah. I did that whole ‘in love thing’ once.”

If the other man’s words had been said with anything other than amusement Sam wouldn’t have laughed and asked, “Just the once?” 

“We were sixteen. She was sarcastic and awkward and I never stood a chance.”

Sam liked the sound of it. The certainty. “How’d you know? What was it like?”

Lucifer looked back up at him. So steady and so quiet for so long before finally asking, “You’ve never been in love?”

It was a weighted question, the implication was right there, and Sam didn’t even try and hide it. “I don’t think so. Like… it’s the kind of thing that you just know it’s happened once it happens. Right?” He’d been dating Mike for nearly half a year and neither of them had used the L word. 

“You know when it happens,” Lucifer said slowly, nodding.

“So what does it feel like?”

“It’s probably different for different people.”

“Come on,” it was as bad as talking to Dean, and Sam didn’t know what some people had against just admitting that they had feelings. 

“It felt like… like not caring that we never did anything more than holding hands and kissing a little,” he said eventually before taking a long drink of wine. “When I asked her out she told me point blank that she wasn’t having sex until she got married, and wanted to know if I going to be ok with that? I didn’t know, and eventually just didn’t care. It wasn’t about sex. It was thinking about her all the time, passing notes in class, and rereading her’s like twenty times during the rest of the day, talking on the phone for hours, being the person she cried on when her pet fish died, helping her study because it meant I got to sit next to her for hours.”

“That… that sounds nice.” It also didn’t sound any different than being best friends or just having a giant crush on someone―but maybe it really did feel different and he’d have to experience it for himself to understand. 

“It sounds  _ amazing _ ,” Lucifer corrected. “One day you’re holding hands, and the next you realise that the only thing you want is to see this other person happy.”

“Can I ask what happened?”

“Her dad got a job on the other side of the country,” he said simply, letting out a wistful breath. 

Sam didn’t pry further. He could guess the story’s ending without any help. “Sorry.”

Lucifer shook his head, glancing up at Sam with a soft smile. “It’s ok. Only happy memories here… and wine. Can’t forget the wine.”

Seeing as Sam had basically forgotten the glass of wine he was holding, it was a good reminder. Only he missed his chance while distractedly watching the other man finish his own wine, followed by Lucifer stealing Sam’s drink and finishing it off as well. 

“H-hey,” his protests were small and short lived, all words turning to small frustrated sounds as he reached for his quickly emptied glass.

“You’re still too young to drink,” Lucifer said with lidded eyes before turning enough to press a wine wet kiss against Sam’s cheek. With a sigh and a stretch, he sat up and set their glasses on the table before settling back down against Sam. Ignoring the stunned quiet of his human pillow, he offered, “Maybe when you’re older.”

Sam should have pointed out that Lucifer was being an ass. Instead, he cleared his throat and uneasily pointed out the obvious, “You’re a really...  _ friendly  _ drunk, Lu.”

“Am I?”

“You’ve kissed me… twice.”

He snorted, pulling a blanket down from the back of the couch. “That doesn’t sound like something I’d do.”

Sam touched the damp spot on his cheek, trying to figure out how he felt about his boyfriend’s very strange brother very drunkenly invading his space. Knowing the answer to his next question, he still asked, “Are you tucking us in?”

“That would be… that would be super weird if I was.”

“It would be,” Sam agreed wholeheartedly, nodding as he pulled his arms around the other man. If he was stuck here at least he could be comfortable too.

“I’m tired,” he announced suddenly, following it up with a needless, “and drunk.”

“How’s your leg feeling?”

“What leg?”

“Great,” he chuckled and shook his head. “Are we going to sleep here like this?”

“Only if I’m lucky,” Lucifer said with another yawn, hugging Sam’s arms to his chest and settling in like he had every intention of spending the whole night like this. 

This wasn’t why he’d come downstairs tonight. In fact, he was having the damnedest time remembering why he’d come down here at all. Whatever the reason, it didn’t seem important right then. 

Resting his cheek against the top of Lucifer’s head, Sam whispered, “Good night.”

  
  
  
  



	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok, but yesterday morning this chapter felt done, all except the last couple paragraphs, which I very distractedly thought about all afternoon while frowning a lot.   
Got home from work, deleted the last bit of the chapter and then proceed to write 9 more pages T_T because apparently I needed to write in great detail this very long scene with Sam coming to Lici's room to bother him.  
I love writing on this story. I know I say that about a lot of my works while I'm tippity tapping away at them, but this one has a lot of innocence and frustration and I find myself grinning a lot while typing, and that seems like a good indicator of an enjoyable story <3  
Hope you guys are having a strong start to your February, shaking off the cold, reading goofy slow burn romance stories about dense boys who don't know what they're feeling anymore XD
> 
> As always, thank you for joining me on these stories. Seeing your comments when I'm checking my emails between classes really brightens up my day <3<3  
Thank you to those who toss me monies through my kofi (especially you vegasgranny <3), you're doing the lord's work keeping me well caffeinated as I wrangle smol children too early in the morning.

A phone was being pressed to Lucifer’s ear. Every part of his body demanded that he stay asleep. Hardly even hearing the tiny voice in his ear, he managed to mumble an answer of, “Yeah?”

“Lu! Hey, it’s Andy.” 

Andy was a coworker.

Lucifer was nowhere near awake enough to deal with a work problem.

He grunted softly. 

“You alright, man? We’ve been trying to get a hold of you all morning.”

Lucifer nodded, raising a hand to move the phone being held to his cheek, feeling mild confusion as his fingers curled around someone else’s hand. “I’m asleep. What do you need?”

Apparently everyone back at work was freaking out because OSHA was coming by in the afternoon, which meant a safety procedures review for their office―a stressful quarterly event that Lucifer had no idea how he’d managed to miss. Luck. Pure luck. Yawning, he rambled off where the checklists were, and did his best to remember all the little things that his poor coworkers needed to scramble and get together before the OSHA people came in. 

It was a short enough phone call, and he managed some sort of goodbye before pushing the phone away from his ear and burrowing his face into whatever soft warmth he was laying against. 

“Oh my god,” a voice rumbled under Lucifer’s cheek. Sam’s words rough with sleep as he chuckled. “I know you said you were a deep sleeper―but seriously? Your phone’s been going off for like ten minutes.”

Lucifer grunted, pulling his arms up against his sides, folding his hands over his ears while he attempted to pretend he was alone in bed. 

“I’ve been shaking you.”

“That’s not nice.” Grumbling softly, Lucifer turned his face the other direction, finding it just as warm and pleasant, but still lacking in any kind of escape from the gentle teasing. 

“Are you seriously going back to sleep?” Sam’s laughter rustled Lucifer’s hair and prickled the skin on the back of his neck. 

“I’m trying to, but some jackass keeps talking.”

Sam whispered some sort of apology before sliding an arm around Lucifer’s shoulders.

For roughly thirty amazing seconds that weight was comfortable and practically perfect. 

Perfect right up until Lucifer’s sleep-addled brain finished slowly processing what was happening. The moment things clicked into place alarms went off in his mind and he pushed himself up to his elbows. Even though he had no god damn clue how he’d ended up on the couch downstairs, or when, or why―that’s absolutely where he was.

But not just on the couch. 

No. 

He was laying on Sam.

Not  _ next to _ Sam. 

Lucifer was very much on, and around, his brother’s boyfriend. Their legs tangled together, the sharp jut of Sam’s hip digging into his side, and what felt very much like a heavy hand resting at the small of Lucifer’s back.

“H-hi?” He struggled to think of anything not weird to say to the man under him. 

“Hey there,” Sam smiled, looking unfairly kissable with his rumpled t-shirt, sleep messed hair, and gorgeous dimpled smile. “You just notice I’m here too?”

There were empty wine glasses on the coffee table, ashes in the fireplace, and most importantly there were clothes on both Lucifer and Sam. Though it felt like trying to ride a bicycle up a steep hill, Lucifer’s brain started to piece together the foggy lack of memories from the night before. 

“Yeah. I… um… did...”

“Did you drink a lot of wine and pass out on the couch?” Sam offered helpfully. “Yes.”

That absolutely sounded like something that Lucifer would deliberately do. Wine and couch sleeping were his favorite ways to spend winter nights up here at the cabin. However, that failed to explain one very important part of this equation. 

“But, Sam... why are  _ you _ here?”

The jerk yawned into a laugh, rubbing an eye as he smiled up at Lu. “Because this is where you put me.”

And it took just about every slightly hungover and incredibly tired ounce of self-control that Lucifer had not to curl down around the other man and kiss that cocky smile off his lips. 

Not that he had any real resolve in the first place; Lucifer could feel the sleepy part of his brain (which was most of his brain) say fuck it all as he started to lean in. Thankfully, before anything particularly regretful could come from that, his younger brother came stomping down the stairs to save him from himself. 

Gabriel was always a source of distraction, for better or worse. 

Lucifer took the cowards way out, staying very close to his brother, using Gabriel’s chaotic energy as a sort of buffer until he could work through his wine headache and put together the fragments of the previous night. Unfortunately, the more that Lucifer remembered the more he wished that he’d had at least two more glasses of wine before bed. 

Then maybe Lucifer would have passed out before Sam could find him and talk to him about his relationship issues. 

Maybe Lucifer could have spent less time that morning next to Gabriel who was positively beaming and made no less than five less than subtle allusions to the fact that he’d had sex the night before. Knowledge that Lucifer really could have gone without, seeing as it didn’t go well with his morning coffee and all the other awful things rolling around in his head. 

Maybe with that extra two glasses of wine, he also could have avoided the overwhelming need to corner his twin once the idiot finally made it downstairs―and Lucifer would never have felt it necessary to demand that Michael drive him into town because it was the first and only way he could think of to get him and his brother alone for a few minutes. 

“You didn’t have to come to, you know,” Michael repeated himself for probably the fifth time since they climbed into his Jeep. “You could have just made me a shopping list.”

“Bit if I just gave you a list how could I ask you―” Lucifer took a sharp breath and demanded to know what had been bothering him since that morning when the foggy hangover had fadded, “ _ What the ever lovin’ fuck is wrong with you, you fucking walnut _ ?”

The Jeep slowed to a crawl along the empty roadway, and Mike turned in his seat to look at Lucifer. 

“Seriously though,” Lucifer kept on, “the hell is wrong with you?”

“Be more specific,” Mike drawled, “because I’m sure there’s a lot wrong, but for some reason the only problem I can think of off the top of my head right now is you.” 

“Oh, don’t you even try me this morning.”

“You’re the one coming out the gate calling me a walnut,” Mike pointed out. 

Neither of them had ever been very good at mornings.

Lucifer ran his hands through his hair, grumbling and getting his thoughts in some kind of order. “You and Sam… he… he stayed up with me last night, telling me all about how you don’t like him any more, and you guys haven’t had sex in weeks and dude, I don’t need to know this stuff. I’ve seen you and Kelvin, and I swear to god, if you’re cheating on Sam I’m gonna slap you upside the head.”

And Lucifer was ready for an actual argument this morning. 

He expected excuses, and at least two really good reasons to be pissed off at his brother. But that’s not what Michael gave him. 

His older brother lit up, smiling so honestly bright and excited. “He talked to you about that?”

All Lucifer managed was to hold his hands out in frustration. 

“No. I mean.. It’s just really sweet that he came to you about his problem. You and him are really cute together.”

“I…I don’t even know what to say to that.”

Mike kept his awful smile, going back to their drive. “Don’t tell anyone, but I’ve sort of been hoping the two of you might get together.”

Lucifer clenched and unclenched his hands, so utterly lost, increasingly more confused than angry.

“Sam’s amazing. He’s… he’s my best friend―no offence.”

“No. None taken.” Lucifer laughed tensely. “I don’t want to be your friend anymore. I don’t even want to be related to you at this point.”

Michale’s stupid smile stayed right where it was as he softly said, “I think I’m falling in love.”

“Well you’re doing it the fuckin’ wrong way.”

“Not with Sam!” Mike laughed, shaking his head. “With  _ Kelvin _ .”

Something inside Lucifer wanted to be happy for his brother, but all he could think was that this was all his fault. “Oh my god.” 

“He’s great, isn’t he?”

Lucifer let out a long, rough sigh, pressing his hands over his face, before yelling out the obvious. “But you’re dating Sam!” 

“Yeah… that’s a bit of a problem.”

“It’s a pretty big fuckin’ problem, Mike.”

“Well, I want to keep him as a friend. I love Sam. I really do.”

“What’s wrong with you?”

“You know what, Lu? Shut up. I’m trying to be nice to Sam and give him a chance to break up with me. That’s a lot nicer of a way to end things than telling him I fell for someone else.”

“You’re such a coward,” Lucifer shook his head as his brother’s shady logic started to come together. “And  _ really  _ manipulative. Fuck you, Mike. You stopped screwing your boyfriend because you want him to break up with you and you can date someone else?”

“I’m not a coward. I’m being nice,” he said with such certainty. 

They knew each other far too well for Lucifer to miss the subtext here, and he took no joy in telling his twin, “This isn’t a situation where you can come out ‘mr. nice guy’, Mike.”

They’d made it all the way into town, and Mike started circling the parking lot outside the grocery store. Apparently he was still determined to go through with this shopping trip even though it had obviously been nothing more than a weak excuse to get away from the rest of the group.

Mike’s eyes slowly narrowed, and it didn’t seem to have anything to do with the lack of open parking spots. “I don’t want to hurt Sam.”

“Think you’ve already missed that train.” Lucifer hated this. Every part of it, because what he’d ended up with was so much worse than anything he could have imagined up on his own. “When a guy starts thinking he’s bad at sex, and that his boyfriend’s just tired of dealing with him―he’s already been hurt in some way.”

“No!” Mike glanced over, eyes gone wide. “He’s…  _ wow _ . No. Sam’s got to be in my top three best lays. That guy… do you have any idea how hard it’s been telling him no?”

This was not information that Lucifer needed, wanted, or that could help this situation in any conceivable way. 

They found a parking space and the Jeep idled to a stop. Mike pulled the keys out and held them awkwardly, frowning at the world. “It would be so much easier if he just wanted to be friends.”

“Talk to him,” Lucifer insisted, hating that he had to have this conversation.

“Could you do it for me?”

“Fuck you.”

“Please?”

Lucifer got out of the Jeep and just kept walking. Through his shock and frustration, he could hear a door slam and the sounds of his brother jogging to catch up with him. 

“Come on,” Mike caught his sleeve, tugging on him to get Lucifer to slow down. “You guys are obviously close. It might not be so bad if he hears it for you.”

“I’m going to hit you if you don’t shut up.”

“But... you’ve broken up with pretty much all my other boyfriends for me. Please?”

Missing a step, Lucifer turned on his brother. “What?”

“Well, you did.”

Beating the hell out of a guy who’d cheated on his brother was not the same as breaking up with someone for Mike. Unfortunately, the longer he thought about Mike’s past relationships, the more that uncomfortable realisation settled in that Lucifer had very actually chased off, threatened, or thrown fists against pretty much every awful guy that had followed his brother home. It wasn’t Lucifer’s fault that his brother attracted scum bags.

Past experiences not withstanding― 

“I’m not breaking up with Sam for you,” Lucifer said as firmly as he could. “Do your own dirty work or I’m disowning you, you complete coward.”

“Come on.”

He shook his head and kept moving even though he knew that with his sore ankle he’d never be able to outpace the jackass trailing him. 

“I know you’ve still got a thing for him, Lu,” Michael chose his words carefully―but careful or not it was the wrong thing to say right then, “and a newly single Sam might be really into some hot rebound sex, so you’ve got that going in your favor.”

There might have been more to that thought. 

If there was, then Lucifer missed it as he turned around and sucker-punched his brother in the gut. Hearing a satisfying gasp of pain as Michael staggered to a stop, Lucifer smiled to himself and kept walking into the store alone.

Their conversation was done, and it set a rather bad mood for the rest of their vacation. 

Or at least what little of the vacation that Lucifer stayed for. 

Despite an awful lot of protesting from pretty much everyone other than Michael, Lucifer left that afternoon with Kelvin packed firmly into the passenger seat. There was no way in hell he was going to let Sam play the third wheel in his own relationship, which meant that Michael’s little man crush needed to be removed from the equation. It would give Michael some obviously needed alone time to work out the rather large problem in his current relationship. 

At least that was the idea. 

Lucifer couldn’t physically force his brother to grow a spine.

And the only other option was to basically step up and explain to Sam what was going on―which would translate to Lucifer doing the dirty work of dumping Sam for Michael.

This wasn’t the sort of situation that was going to end well, no matter what way it went. At least not for Lucifer, and not for Mike. But maybe Sam had a chance of coming out ok. That was his hope at least. 

The best he could do was try and enjoy his holiday at home, ignoring texts and phone calls from his family, all while hoping that when Mike made it back from the snow he’d be slightly miserable and incredibly single and Lucifer wouldn’t have to hit him again.

Fights between them never ended well. 

He’d refused to reply to his brother’s texts. By Thursday morning he’d stopped reading them altogether, and that meant that he didn’t actually know when Mike was planning to come home. So he was slightly surprised to see the Jeep in the driveway Friday night―but not nearly as surprised as when he pushed the front door open with a hip, arms full of groceries, only to drop half of them on the porch when he walked in on Mike and Sam fooling around on the couch.

One of those things that took Lucifer’s brain a few stuttering seconds to recover from.

“Come on, guys,” he scrambled for a normal complaint, forcing his eyes away from the beautiful long line of muscle down Sam’s back. He hated, absolutely  _ hated _ this. “You’re going to fuck around, do it in Mike’s room. No one wants to see this.”

There was a lot of sudden scrambling and deep, masculine laughter from the couch. 

With too many mixed feelings, none of them good, Lucifer focused on picking up the food he’d thrown and did his best to not watch the other two men pulling their clothes back into place. 

There had been nice plans of making lasagna with no one around to remind him he was banned from using the oven. He had been wanting to relax and lay around, eat pasta, and finish up some Netflix binging that he’d started on Wednesday.

In something like a furious daze, Lucifer made his way to the kitchen, dumping the food onto the counters and staring numbly, clenching and unclenching his fists.

He didn’t feel like he had a right to be angry. This wasn’t a problem that directly involved him. Lucifer was just a spectator to his brother’s absolutely offensive relationship.

Sam leaned around the corner, blushing and grinning and so delightfully oblivious to how wrong all of this was. “Hey. Sorry.”

Lucifer didn’t trust himself to use nice words or to even sound remotely friendly. So instead he nodded and shrugged, and tossed food into the fridge.

“What’s for dinner, and is there maybe enough for us to join you?”

If it had been pretty much any other human standing there grinning at him, Lucifer would have told them to get bent. But it was Sam―and Lucifer wasn’t so sure he could tell the guy no to anything.

“Lasagna, but if you want to eat you’ve got to help me cook.”

“Deal,” Sam grinned, eagerly coming close and picking up ingredients in a way that suggested he probably had no idea what he was doing. “Hey, Mike, come help make dinner.”

“No,” Lucifer hissed.

Sam raised his eyebrows.

“We don’t kitchen well together,” was the only explanation he could offer, moving around the younger man to stop his brother from coming into the room. “We’ve got it. Go take a shower or something, Mike. A cold shower.”

“I…” Mike’s chuckle was guilty and awful as he mouthed ‘ _ I didn’t have that talk with him yet’ _

Lu gave a small, short shake of his head before tightly saying, “We’re gonna make dinner.”

The smile his brother gave him was nothing but hopeful as he looked over Lucifer’s shoulder. to Sam, and back.

“No,” he bit off, and for good measure pushed his brother in the other direction. Lucifer went back to Sam and the prospect of dinner. 

“You… you two ok?” Sam asked softly, clumsily holding the box of noodles. 

“Not really,” was the honest answer. “But we’ll sort it out. Don’t worry about us.”

Sam looked very much like he’d prefer to worry a whole lot. But thankfully, the big beautiful boy scout smiled a weak smile and asked, “How’s your leg feeling?”

“Fine. I’m fine,” he promised, thankful for the change in topic. 

“Is that a real fine, or the sort of fine that you say when you’re actually really hurt? Because I … I’ve heard you go both ways.”

Lucifer paused, holding on to the cupboard door, looking over his shoulder at the other man. 

Sam ginned, expectant.

Shaking his head, Lucifer took the box from Sam’s hands and traded it for one of the large pots. “Fill it a little more than half way and set it on the stove to boil.”

“Oh, come on. That was a terrible joke. You’re not even going to smile?”

“Water. Stove. Cook the noodles.”

“Alright. Alright.” Sam chuckled, brushing past Lucifer, lingering for a second where their shoulders met. “Glad you’re feeling’ better. We missed you.”

Lucifer had the feeling that certain people might have missed him more than others. Obviously one of his brothers had been far too occupied screwing Sam to do much missing, or much of anything other than making some very poor life choices. 

Super optimistic thoughts to occupy his mind while Sam helped him with dinner. 

Which was incredibly unfortunate, because a mind full of anger for Michael meant not a whole lot of room for thoughts about how nice it was to be stuck in a very cramped kitchen with someone he liked very much. 

Sam stayed the night. 

And Lucifer kept his headphones on to block out the sounds from the other bedroom. 

School started back up, and it was like spring break never happened. Like Lucifer and Mike had never had a little fight. Like Mike never confessed that he was falling in love with someone else. 

A week after school started back up, Lucifer had a horrible realisation that Sam was now living with them. It didn’t seem super official, it’s not like Sam brought furniture or anything. Just every time that Lu came home for work, there was a lanky brunet on his couch furiously highlighting pages of his textbooks. And every afternoon when he rolled out of bed there was his brother’s boyfriend making himself lunch between class and work.

It would have been great to see the guy so often. 

Lucifer couldn’t lie to himself and say that his stomach didn’t twist into terrible knots every time Sam looked up to see who was coming through the door. They’d grin at one another, sometimes they’d eat together before both heading off to work, Lucifer always willing to drop Sam back off at campus even though it wasn’t on his way. 

But it all had an awful undertone. 

Because as long as Sam was here and grinning happily, it meant that Mike and he still hadn’t had their talk. 

That nervous feeling of borrowed time made Lucifer ache, and with each passing day he grew a little more frustrated with his brother. There was nothing he could do about it, though. Not unless he decided to be the bad guy and break up with Sam for Sam’s own good. 

He kept thinking he could work up his nerve―and then Sam would do something unnecessarily thoughtful and Lucifer couldn’t do anything but grin like an idiot. 

Right up until finals, Lu felt like he almost stood a chance at resisting all the perfect boyish charms of the long-legged college freshman who was screwing his brother. Sure, it was a losing battle―but as soon as finals started there wasn’t time or energy to deal with the horribly inappropriate crush that Lucifer had. 

He never thought that writing term papers and studying for organic chemistry tests would feel like an escape. 

Calculus was a lot less so. 

Saturday night, going over all the problems on his study guide, eyes hurting from staring at his computer screen for too long, he decided it was time to give up for the night. He had all of Sunday to beat himself over the head with equations that still didn’t make sense. It was time for a mental break. But as he pushed off his headphones and rolled his chair back from the desk he caught sight of Sam sitting innocently on the foot of his bed, law book open on his lap, pen in his mouth, and a focused expression narrowing his eyes. 

Lucifer softly cleared his throat, worried about startling the other man, which felt stupid considering his own heart was hammering at the unexpected visitor. 

The pen twitched as Sam rolled it between his teeth, glancing up. “Oh. Hey,” the oddly happy greeting came out mumbled in the obvious effort not to drop his pen. 

“Hey,” Lucifer fought back laughter. “Can I get you anything?”

“No. I’m alright,” he grinned a lopsided grin and looked back to his book for a second. His gaze flicked back up though, clearly surprised. “Oh! There’s a sandwich for you… on the desk.”

His chair swivel, and sure enough, as he turned around Lucifer saw the sandwich on the edge of his desk. “Did you…?”

“Yeah.” Sam managed to look sheepish, all kinds of sweet and awkward. “I heard you and Mike earlier, yelling at each other while I was in the shower.” His smile went tight and a little guilty, “I thought maybe you’d feel better if you had some dinner.”

“It’s two in the morning.”

“Ah, but did you have any dinner yet?”

Which was the cue for Lucifer to smile a guilty smile. He took the sandwich, because honestly as soon as food had been mentioned his stomach had woken up and started making demands. “Thank you.”

Sam shrugged it off, one of his knees pushing against Lucifer’s as he returned to his book. 

It was a BLT on very dark rye bread, which was actually his favorite sandwich, something he was almost positive that Sam shouldn’t know. He took one eager bite and sank a little lower in his seat. The bacon was even still warm and had the perfect amount of crispness. He was halfway through the sandwich before he managed to ask, “How long have you just been creeping over there?”

“Only for like a page… page and a half-ish,” Sam took the pen from his mouth and underlined a passage in his book. 

“Sorry for me and Mike,” Lucifer apologised for both of them. He had tried to keep his voice down, but apparently sound traveled too well in their little old house. ”It’s just… you know… brother things. Don’t worry about it.”

Sam looked up again, “When in the history of ever did someone saying ‘ _ don’t worry _ ’ actually work?” 

Lucifer smiled into his sandwich.

“We’re all stressed over finals,” Sam said as if he understood. “Just a few more days though.”

School stress had probably played a part in his and Mike’s yelling match earlier.

But their topic of conversation was currently sitting on Lucifer’s bed, smiling a toothy smile around his pen cap, making it hard to pretend that school had anything to do with the feelings Lucifer was having. 

He probably could have sat there quietly enjoying his very late dinner, just watching Sam, leaning into the lingering way that their knees were still touching.

That would have been too easy, though. 

And Sam had never seemed interested in making things easy for Lu.

“Hey,” the younger man’s smile took on a strange tone, “can I ask you a strange question?”

Not knowing what to really expect with that kind of introduction, Lucifer hesitantly nodded. 

“Ok, because I tried to talk to my brother about it the other day and he was… less than helpful.”

“You try talking to Mike about it?”

“It’s not the kind of thing I can... “ he let out a sharp breath, running his hands through his hair. “Yeah. No. Mike would probably know the answer, but it would be weird.”

“Well thank god you brought your problem to me, because this isn’t even a little weird.”

Sam chuckled softly. “I don’t have a lot of experience with relationship…  _ things _ . It’s just not stuff I really thought about until recently, you know?”

Lucifer did not know, but he nodded just the same, very quickly wishing he’d told Sam no to a question-answer session. 

“Do you think it’s normal to―” he cleared his throat and tapped his pen against his textbook, making zero eye contact, “to have thoughts about someone you’re not dating?” 

Too confused to form much of an answer, all Lucifer’s managed was to raise his eyebrows.

“Like, I know people crush on celebrities and that kind of thing, but when you’re with someone aren’t those kinds of daydreams supposed to go away? I tried to look it up, but Google wasn’t exactly helpful.”

“You Googled if it’s normal to have a crush on a celebrity?”

“No,” Sam’s cheeks were charmingly red. “I just… It feels like cheating on Mike to be thinking about someone else and I don’t mean to… but it’s normal right?”

It was almost too cute. Lucifer laughed into his hand. “Come on, Sammy. There’s no way you’re this naive. Yeah. It’s very normal to see someone hot and notice that they’re hot, even when you’re dating someone.”

Sam didn’t look particularly comforted. “Yeah?” 

“I think all this studying is frying your brain,” Lucifer laughed. “I remember being in high school, and  _ What Lies Beneath _ came out. I was in a very happy relationship with a very cute cheerleader, but that didn’t change the fact that that movie had Michelle Pfeiffer soaking wet in a bathtub,  _ and _ shirtless Harrison Ford. Hot damn, but seventeen year old me thought about them way too hard.”

“Weren't they both kind of old in that movie?”

“The day Catwoman and Han Solo are no longer worthy of my wet dreams, you can bury me, because I’m obviously dead.”

Sam laughed a little too loud, startling himself, and quickly covering his mouth. “You sound so much like my brother sometimes.”

“Your brother’s got the hots for Harris Ford too?”

Snorting softly, Sam shook his head. “He’s never mentioned it.”

Lucifer shrugged. There was obviously no accounting for taste.

“So, you’re saying I’m normal, Doc?”

“Perfectly healthy, red-blooded male. I’m willing to bet pretty much everyone thinks about someone else sometimes. You can’t really help where your brain wanders off too. Just… I guess, if you’re starting to feel a little guilty about it, try not to dwell too much. Or hell, talk to Mike about it. I bet he thinks about other people sometimes too.” And even though Lucifer knew it was true, he still felt instantly guilty for letting Sam in on Mike’s mental infidelity.

Sam obviously didn’t think anything of it though, hugging his textbook to his chest and smiling in a damnably hopeful way. “I guess I just thought it was one of those things that’s supposed to go away when you’re in love.”

That caught Lucifer off guard and he felt his spine go tight. “You and Mike, um, you guys finally say it?”

A brittle laugh caught in Sam’s throat and he shook his head. 

Lucifer laughed too, on reflex, and he hated it.

“I guess it’s just something I’m still thinking about way too much.” Sam smiled at Lucifer, his cheeks quickly turning bright red. “Me and Mike, we sorted things out back at the cabin… I’m sure you figured that out though.”

“Yeah. I’d sort of put it together, what with all the loud sex on the other side of my wall.”

Sam bit his lip, running a hand through his hair, clearly embarrassed to be called out. “Sorry.”

“Mike… did he ever tell you what was up?” Lucifer knew the answer, but part of him was hoping to hear that Michael had lied because it would mean more ammunition for his brotherly anger. 

“He’d just had a lot on his mind? Apparently it wasn’t anything about me, so… yeah, I got to worry for no reason at all.” He shrugged and laughed, and looked suitably awkward. “Sorry for making you part of it, Lu.”

“You say right after bringing your new relationship concerns to me.”

“But I also brought you a sandwich this time.” Sam sure knew how to come off as a sweet and innocent kid when he wanted to, but there was some obvious cunning and deliberate troublemaking under that pretty surface.

Their knees were still touching, and Lucifer closed his eyes for a moment and just focused on that tiny little bit of nice. He could feel Sam’s gaze on him, the heavy weight of those warm dark eyes. 

“Hey…” Sam breathed into the silence, “can I ask you another weird question?”

Lucifer kept his eyes closed, twisting his chair from side to side by the smallest inches. “I mean, I should probably be going to bed, or getting back to studying, but fuck it―dazzle me with another one of your weird questions.” Any excuse to stay where he was for a little longer.

“Tell me about the first guy you dated?”

He cracked an eye open, surprised at the request. 

Sam was watching him with this timid little smile. “You don’t have to. It’s just not the kind of thing I can talk to my school friends about. But they’re all pretty... binary. Very  _ straight _ . Or you know, like Mike with his all gay all the time. You’re the only person I know who’s like me.”

“Bi?”

Sam nodded.

Teasing, Lucifer grinned and asked, “And how many girls have you been with, Sammy?”

“Well, none. But I’m not against the idea.”

He wondered if that’s what had started this whole line of questioning. If Sam had been spending a bit too much time thinking about some pretty actress―and just how unbelievably cute it was that this guy was only now going through the normal sorts of confusing feelings that most people went through back in fifth grade.

“So,” Sam pressed, leaning forward and lightly slapping at Lucifer’s knee. “Was your first with a boy or a girl?”

“I definitely started out liking girls, not really considering I might like guys too. I think the first time I had that ‘ _ oh no, he’s hot _ ’ moment was my lab partner in my high school chem class. He was gangly and awkward, and he’d come in from PE a little sweaty, and… I don’t know. He just really did it for me.”

“Did you ask him out?”

“God no,” Lucifer laughed. “I was too chicken shit to approach a guy for years. I sure as hell looked at them and thought about them though, but I don’t know… it’s stupid, I guess I had this idea that any guy I asked out would  _ know _ that I’d only ever been with girls and he’d call me out on it. Like it’s some kind of club and I wouldn’t know the special handshake.”

Sam was grinning.

So, Lucifer kept talking. “First guy I was ever with was… I won’t tell you his name, because we’re still friends, and it might be weird for him… but he used to be a her, and we’d dated for a while.”

Understanding dawned slowly over the other man’s face. 

“When we first met, he was an Ashley. There was a lot of stuff he was going through back then, but we were together for a while, and really quick we went from dating to friends in the most supportive and happy way you can.” Lucifer smiled at the memory. “Ashley went off to school in New York, and came back two years later as a guy who couldn’t stop smiling and laughing, and just… I never knew he could be that happy. We sort of dated again for a summer, fooled around a lot, I think I was the first person he’d been with since transitioning, and it was easier for him because I knew everything he’d gone through.” 

With nothing but open curiosity, Sam asked, “How did that work with him being…?”

“Same way as when he was an Ashley,” Lucifer said with a sharp grin. “I know you’re new to a lot of things, so you might not be up on all the lingo―but it’s called pegging. So, one day after you’ve dumped my sorry ass brother, and you’re with some hot girl and you’re missing bottoming?  _ Do it _ , and then thank me later. Because, very few things are hotter than a girl on top.” 

Sam’s eyes had gone wide, his cheeks so red, and his smile so eager but at the same time very stunned.

Lucifer realised that he’d overshared, but if Sam felt brave enough to ask, then the guy was going to also have to be brave enough for the answer. 

It felt all too surreal, like they were a bunch of giggling teenagers, as the other man leaned in closer to whisper, “I’ve never bottomed.”

A statement that welcomed far too many interesting mental images into Lucifer’s eager imagination. Grinning from ear to ear, and only half-joking, he raised an eyebrow, gesturing first to Sam, then to himself, and then to the bed.

The younger man snorted, his cheeks a very dark red, and he slapped again at Lucifer’s leg. 

“I can show you the ropes. It won't take very long,” Lucifer teased, winking, “Just a few minutes, if you didn’t have anything else going on tonight.”

Still laughing, Sam fell back on the bed, folding his hands over the textbook still held to his chest. “What math problem were you stuck on?”

Lucifer probably sat there a little too long, smiling at his brother’s boyfriend before realising he’d been asked a question. Sighing happily, he swiveled his chair back to face the computer and tried to focus. Sam did his best to help, but it was a lot of wasted effort. 

Yawning, Lucifer glanced back at the man on his bed, wanting to tell him they should call it a night. He was too tired and too distracted for math, and it seemed like Sam had at least half the same problems as him. 

Because Sam was asleep. 

As quietly as he could, Lucifer put his computer to sleep, and took the sandwich plate out to the kitchen. They were the only distractions he could come up with while he struggled to think of a good reason why it would be a bad idea to curl up beside the man in his bed. 

It was  _ his _ bed. 

He should be allowed to sleep on it. 

With or without the added company.

Preferably with.

Feeling only slightly like a martyr, Lucifer pulled a blanket over Sam and flicked off the bedroom light, letting his friend sleep in peace. 

He attempted to sleep on the loveseat, his knees hooked over one armrest, using the other armrest a makeshift pillow. It wasn’t the least comfortable place that he’d ever tried to sleep, and he was more than a little exhausted―which should have been a recipe for an easy night’s sleep. 

Instead, he laid there with his thoughts to keep him unpleasantly occupied until he could see shadows starting to form around the living room as the faint light of dawn started to creep in. 

Exhaustion and far too much overthinking told Lucifer that there was a distinct line between trying to be a good friend and just being mean to himself. If Sam didn’t think it was weird to fall asleep on Lucifer’s bed, then it wasn’t weird for Lucifer to join him. 

And that may or may not have been true, but he was willing to find that out after he got a few hours of much needed sleep.

Blearily, he rolled off the couch and went back to his room. Crawling onto the bed he pawed at the other man’s shoulder. 

Sam grumbled but otherwise ignored the gentle pushing. 

“Scoot over, jerk,” Lucifer insisted, shoving a little harder.

Breathing out something like an apology, Sam rolled onto his side, raising his arm up like he expected Lucifer to somehow fit under it. 

For whatever it was worth, Lucifer used the last of his obviously dwindling good sense to push the other man’s arm aside so he could lay down without being spooned by his friend. It didn’t do him any good though, as nearly the same time his head hit the pillow, the other man was snaking a heavy arm around his middle and pulling him into a tight hug. 

Even if it was probably just a reflex on Sam’s part, an unconscious response to the weight of someone else beside him and it didn’t mean a damn thing, Lucifer closed his eyes and let himself relax, whispering horsley, “Good night, Sam.” 

Unexpectedly, Sam pressed his face into Lucifer’s hair and mumbled back, “Goodn’te, Lu.”

Smiling in a way that hurt his chest, Lucifer pressed his hands over the arm holding him, and quickly drifted off to sleep. 


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We've reached chapter 20!   
hip hip hooray! thank you guys for always being so supportive of these long winded and goofy stories that I make. It's been too cold to paint or go to the woods, so here I am, wrecking the lives of some fictional boys to help me decompress after work.
> 
> We will look at this a something of a season finale, and like most season finales it's going to go a little sideways. So... feel free once you've reached the end to jump right back to the beginning of the chapter (it's got some snuggles) as a palate cleanser.
> 
> Fear not my lovely friends, it will all come together <3   
I've got plans

For the past two weeks, nearly every morning, Sam had woken up stretched out beside Michael. His boyfriend wasn’t a morning person, and wasn’t too much of a sleepy snuggler―which meant that Sam would kiss Mike’s shoulder or cheek, whatever he could find, and crawl out of bed to leave the other man to wake up at his own speed. 

It meant that waking up with a comfortable armful of man tucked firmly against his chest made Sam’s tired brain a jumble of confusion. 

This wasn’t his boyfriend’s bed.

This wasn’t his boyfriend. 

This... didn’t feel like a bad thing, even though Sam was sure that it absolutely was. 

Last night Lucier had tried to assure him it was perfectly natural to fantasize about someone he wasn’t dating―but Sam had a feeling that the other man might change his mind if he’d known who it was wreaking havoc in Sam’s imagination. 

Waking up back at the cabin under Lucifer had sewn some dubious seeds, which at first Sam had hoped to blame on the distance between him and Mike. It had made sense to think about kissing someone when he hadn’t kissed anyone in weeks. 

But they were home now, and Sam had had Mike’s legs around him only last night, yet somehow as soon as his boyfriend fell asleep he’d ended up sitting on Lucifer’s bed. And his boyfriend’s brother was the easiest person in the world to talk to, funny and open and utterly shameless. Sam had gone into their talk last night knowing all that, and still he’d asked questions he shouldn’t have, and earned himself a lovely collection of explicit daydreams all centered around the sorts of things that Lucifer might teach him.

Not that the other man actually  _ would _ .

It had only been the stupid kind of teasing that friends do.

But the seeds had been planted.

Last night it had been easy enough for Sam to cram his thoughts to bursting with math problems as a desperate distraction. 

This morning he was holding Lucifer like he was afraid to let him go, and there wasn’t a single math problem in sight to save him.

They’d met under the worst circumstances; Sam falling over himself drunk and Lucifer holding his hair while he threw up on the side of the road. Becoming friends after that glorious introduction really was a best case scenario that Sam didn’t want to take for granted. It just would always feel insanely unfair that Lucifer was his first kiss and Sam couldn’t even remember how awful and awkward it must have been.

There was absolutely some faulty logic at play in Sam’s mind as he lay there sharing a pillow with his boyfriend’s brother. Lucifer was still sleeping heavily, his chest rising slow and even, and he never needed to know how badly Sam wanted a replacement kiss.

Just a small one. 

One to fit into the empty place where that memory wasn’t.

Sam only had to curl forward a couple inches to feel the other man’s breath against his mouth, and there was only the tiniest hiccup of hesitation before he gently pressed his lips to his friend’s.

He had no idea what he’d expected from it.

After all, Sam was still half asleep.

Warm and tired and lacking in his usual inhibitions and good sense. 

Sam supposed he’d been expecting to check off a line on his mental ‘to-do list’, and that somehow the one-sided kiss would have removed all of the daydreams and inappropriate thoughts he’d been having about his friend. 

And if he’d stopped at one single kiss, maybe it would have.

But by kiss number three, Lucifer had started to stir, murmuring and opening his mouth to kiss back in a slow and dreamlike way. What started as a chaste press of lips very quickly became something that made Sam’s chest tight and his toes curl, as the other man’s tongue brushed against his and the kiss deepened. Sam had just enough sense to pull back once he felt fingers curling around his hip. He watched in sudden fear as Lucifer’s eyes fluttered―then the man yawned and rolled onto his stomach to bury his face in his pillow. 

Sam was left staring wide-eyed at the far wall. He had a very sudden and very strong need to leave this room and go crawl into bed with Michael, to hide and apologise and forget. 

Unfortunately, Lucifer was waking up and the only thing that Sam could think to do was close his eyes and pretend to still be fast asleep―a stupid plan that actually seemed to work. Beside him, Sam felt the other man roll over again, and then startle, his whole body going tense as he swore under his breath and tried to carefully untangle himself from Sam’s arms.

No one had ever accused Sam of being a good liar, but he thought he managed a decent enough job at yawning and running a hand over his face and pretending to slowly wake up.

“H-hey there,” Lucifer whispered uneasily. 

It was only the smallest hesitation, but Sam felt it in his stomach like a weight. This here was not how his friend wanted to be waking up, again, and that was just a bitter pill that Sam would have to swallow. 

“Hey,” he answered, running a hand through his hair, trying on a smile. “What time is it?”

Lucifer slowly sat up, leaning over the edge of the bed and coming back with his cell phone. “It’s, uh, almost eight… you’ve got class to get to?”

“No,” Sam shook his head, looking up at his friend and the way his hair stuck up on one side. “It’s Saturday. No school.”

“Oh,” Lucifer nodded, scratching his head while squinting sleepily around his room. “Didn’t mean to wake you up. You can,” he paused to yawn, “you can go back to sleep, if you want.”

“You going back to sleep too?”

The look on Lucifer’s face said that the offer was more than a little tempting, and he turned a longing eye back towards his pillow. His gaze drifted over Sam though, and he frowned and ran his thumb over his lower lip. Hesitantly he asked, “With you?”

“No,” Sam laughed tightly at the suggestion. “I… I should probably be getting up and starting some coffee.” 

Lucifer stopped playing with his lip, his hand falling to his lap. “I want waffles.”

Sam laughed again, but this time it felt lighter, less like choking. “I’m very happy for you.”

A tiny smile tugged the corners of his mouth. “Guessing you don’t make waffles?”

“Only the kind you put in a toaster.” Sam grinned, no shame at all in his own inability to cook. Dean had always done the meals back at home, and college life consisted of easy things like salads and sandwiches, or take out. He hadn’t ever found a need to learn how to make waffles. 

“Alright, but Eggo waffles can fuck off,” Lucifer pushed the blankets away and swung his legs off the bed. “Come on, Sammy. Get your ass up and get dressed. Breakfast time.”

More curious than annoyed, Sam followed. 

He’d very wrongly assumed that after he traded his pajama pants for jeans that he and Lucifer would be going out to a restaurant that served breakfast, to have a nice and friendly friend-date. What he got instead was a trip to the local grocery store for some fresh fruit and a couple other ingredients, as well as candy which was hopefully not part of breakfast, followed by a cooking lesson that was far more complicated than he felt it needed to be. 

“There were box mixes at the store,” he insisted, holding the two halves of a broken egg and looking at the mess on the counter. “I saw them. They said ‘just add water’.”

“But I want  _ good _ waffles,” Lucifer insisted, chewing on a piece of licorice, leaning on the counter and not helping in any way other than suggestion, “So get better at separating those egg whites.”

“If god wanted the yolks and whites separated he wouldn’t have put them together in such a perfect little package.” 

“Ok, but whatever neat little  _ package _ god wanted them in, you are litterly crushing them with your big dumb hands. Have you ever cracked an egg in your life?”

Sam highly considered tossing the broken shells at the other man, but they were all stuck to his fingers with egg goo and would probably be very hard to throw. “If it’s so easy, then you do.”

“Cracking eggs is basic survival, Sammy,” Lucifer insisted, most of a Red Vine still dangling from his mouth. “Try it again. I believe in you.”

That made one of them. 

Sam easily destroyed a second egg, narrowing his eyes at the bowl full of little white fragments. Feeling more and more frustrated, he started picking egg shells from the waffle batter, quickly stopping as Lucifer stepped up behind him.

“W-what are you doing?” He asked as the other man’s arms came around his waist.

“Helping you crack eggs, you mess.” Lucifer slid his hands over Sam’s and helped him to pick up a third unfortunate egg. He rested his chin on Sam’s shoulder to see what they were doing, standing far too close. It was extremely unnecessary, and extremely pleasant. 

Trying not to and failing miserably, Sam grinned. “Are we going to Patrick Swayze our way through this?”

“I’m not going to sing Unchained Melody, if that’s what you’re asking,” Lucifer chuckled, the piece of licorice he was working on hitting Sam’s cheek. With so much help that Sam hadn’t asked for, they managed to crack two fresh eggs, Lucifer making it look insanely easy. Far too quickly he started to pull away. “There you go.”

“You’re not going to stay and help me stir?” Sam half turned, looking over his shoulder.

Lucifer grinned around his candy. “That might be a bit overkill for just a few waffles.”

Which was fair enough, but also disappointing. Instead of pouting, he leaned in enough to take a bite off the end of the other man’s licorice, feeling very pleased with himself at the startled look on Lucifer’s face. 

“Hey,” was the very thin voiced protest.

It made Sam laugh, and he nearly stole a second bite, only that’s when Michael came into the kitchen. It made Sam feel oddly guilty, like he’d been caught doing something far worse than trying and failing to make breakfast, and he sheepishly offered a, “Good morning.”

“Morning,” Mike yawned, moving around his brother to give Sam a tight little hug and a slow kiss. “Were you up studying last night? You didn’t make it back to bed.”

“No, I slept with Lu.”

Michael’s dark eyes went round.

“He helped me study,” Lucifer said loudly, “and he fell asleep on my bed.”

“Oh,” Mike laughed a little too hard, giving Sam a gentle squeeze. “I was going to say, I’m a little hurt but I respect the honesty, Sam―I’ve always known he’d steal you away eventually.”

“No,” Sam felt his face grow warm at the thought. 

“Oh, he’s always had his eye on you,” Michael teased, touching his nose to Sam’s. “Can’t say I blame him.”

Lucifer walked out of the room, calling over his shoulder, “Shut up, Mike.”

Michael grinned, unphased. He kissed Sam again, a light brush of lips. “I’m going to go on a little run. You want to come with?”

It was a nice offer, and any other morning, Sam would have happily put on his running shoes, but, “I… I’ve got to finish the waffles.”

He smiled and shook his head, “Alright. But you two behave yourselves.”

“Of course,” Sam drew an X over his heart, grinning. 

“Mmmhmm,” Michael kissed him one more time before finally letting him go. “Be good.”

“Always.”

Michael grinned up at him, kissing his cheek and walking off to get ready for his run.

Feeling far too happy over such a simple and peaceful morning, Sam returned to stirring the waffle batter. His movements slowed though as everything started to catch up with him. In the short hour he’d been awake, he’d really screwed up hard. 

“Lu?” He weakly called out, stabbing his spoon into the batter.

“Yeah?” The man in question popped his head around the corner, eyes quickly narrowing. “What happened?”

“Come finish the waffles.”

He nodded slowly, coming and taking the bowl. Lucifer looked very much like he wanted to ask, but he said nothing, letting Sam brush past him.

It was a small house, which meant not a whole lot of places to have a private phone call. Sam ended up sitting on the edge of Mike’s bed, bouncing his knee anxiously while he waited for his brother to answer the phone. 

“Heya, Sammy,” Dean said after only a couple rings. “What happened?”

Sam frowned at his phone and sighed. “How’d you know?”

“Why else would you be calling me Saturday morning?” 

“I...I accidentally kissed Lucifer.”

Dean laughed sharply, all the concern leaving him in a rush. “Dude! You don’t accidentally kiss someone. That’s not a thing.”

“We were just laying in bed this morning and it sort of happened,” Sam continued over his brother’s disbelieving laughter.

If his brother had any advice it couldn’t make it through the breathless laughter. 

“Shut up and help. What do I do, Dean?”

“Fuck, Sammy. You’re asking the wrong guy for advice on this one. I’ve never been in a gay love triangle. I mean, I’m not against it, especially if the other two people were some hot girls.”

“Not helping.” Sam’s stomach was starting to hurt from how tightly he was holding himself. He let his breath out in a sharp rush, running a hand through his hair, hating that this was the only person he had to go to for relationship advice, seeing as Dean didn’t exactly have a sterling track record. 

Dean sighed in amusement. “What do you want me to tell you?” 

“Tell me I’m being an idiot―”

“You are.”

“And then tell me how to fix it.”

“You can’t unkiss your boyfriend’s brother.”

“He…well, he was asleep, so I don’t think he knows. I don’t have to tell him,” a bubble of hope caught in Sam’s throat. He could easily worm his way out of this. Michael never needed to know about the sleepy little mistake this morning, and Lucifer certainly didn’t ever need to be told.

“Dude. I leave you alone for a few months out there in California, and look at you. What the hell, Sammy? You can’t go all Sleeping Beauty on someone. You're gonna’ kiss someone then they sure as hell better be awake and ok with it.”

“Lu would never be ok with it,” Sam snorted softly. “He… he’s a really good friend.”

“And that’s it?”

“Yeah,” Sam smiled, looking off at the closed bedroom door. “That’s it. He’s teaching me to make waffles today and I’ve been helping him with his math. It’s totally platonic.” 

“Then why the hell did you kiss the guy?”

That was a great question that Sam didn’t know the answer to.

A few minutes later he left his phone behind, coming back to the kitchen with a renewed feeling of having no idea what he was even doing with his life. Dean had been less than helpful. Talking about it only made it that much more real. And to make matters worse, Sam was now fairly certain that if given the opportunity to kiss Lucifer again, he absolutely would. 

A line of thought that in no way helped to clarify any of his feelings.

The television was on, and Lucifer was sitting cross legged on the sofa, plate of waffles on one knee as he watched cartoons. “Food for you on the counter,” he called out, his eyes flicking over to watch Sam walking down the hall.

Sam said his thanks, retrieving his plate and standing awkwardly in the kitchen. He could eat at the table like a normal person, or stay right where he was, or… 

Making excuses to himself, all sorts of weak excuses, Sam found one of his class binders and joined Lucifer on the couch.

“Can’t take a break from studying for a bit?” Lucifer shifted further down on the loveseat, trying to give Sam enough room that they could both fit without sitting in each other’s laps. 

“Already did,” Sam situated his open notes on the arm of the couch, and his waffles balanced on one knee. “My last two tests are on Monday, so I’ve only got two more days to study.”

“You’ll do fine.”

“I better,” Sam resisted the urge to settle in and rest his shoulder against the other man’s. “I’ve got to keep my GPA up if I’m going to keep my scholarship.”

Lucifer half turned to look fully at Sam. “What sort of grades did you get on your midterms?”

“Well, pretty good, but I got a 91 on my criminal law test.”

“ _ Only _ a 91?” Lucifer laughed.

“That’s almost a B.” Sam insisted.

Lucifer shook his head, taking a bite of breakfast before looking back at his cartoons. “You’ll be fine, Sammy.”

“It’s just Sam,” he corrected softly, cutting up his waffle.

There was no more teasing from the otherside of the couch and Sam almost felt bad. He kept his face in his notes, but let one leg fall to the side until he found the other man’s knee. 

“What are you doing?” Lucifer asked with a lilt of amusement in his tone.

“Studying. Eating a waffle.”

Lucifer bounced his leg, jostling their knees. 

“It’s not flirting,” Sam insisted without looking up, “it’s just getting comfortable.” 

“God, I don’t know what I’d do with myself if you actually tried flirting at me,” Luci laughed sharply.

Sam shook his head, letting his hair hide the other man from his view as he tried to focus on eating and studying, and ignoring the nice line of warmth down his side where he and Lucifer were touching. 

It was almost too easy to settle in together. The television quickly became white noise, and Lucifer mercifully left him alone to his studying, eventually getting up and taking their plates to the kitchen. 

A little tickle worked its way up from the base of Sam’s spine, a nervous prickle that started the moment he caught himself watching the other man walking away. Not that a glance was anything to feel guilty about, but Sam was overly aware of the way that he noticed the way that Lucifer fit into his jeans. 

Perhaps this problem was a whole lot bigger than what he’d told Dean. 

During their short phone call Sam had conveniently left out the fact that he had some very specific day dreams about going to his knees in front of the guy, kissing over the soft V that started on either of his narrow hips, and how it would feel to have Lucifer tangle his fingers through Sam’s hair.

Feeling heat rising up his throat at the thought, Sam ran his hands over his face and blew out a hard breath. Focus. He needed to focus. 

Which would have been a lot easier if Lucifer had not come back with a laptop, and settled back on to the couch in a very different position than the one he’d had minutes before. Not even asking permission, Lucifer laid back over Sam’s lap, resting his head and shoulders on Sam’s thigh, and the computer on his chest, his legs dangling over the loveseat’s arm. 

“It’s not flirting,” Lucifer said distractedly as he logged into one of his online classes, “it’s just getting comfortable on the very limited sitting space.”

There was a whole lot more wrong with this situation than there was right. 

And Sam grinned and didn’t argue, looking back at his notes and silently loving the weight of Lucifer resting against him. 

Not too long after the front door was opening up and Michael stepped in, pulling off his headphones and setting his phone and keys down. He paused, looking at the couch with a half smile and a raised eyebrow. 

Before Sam could come up with some kind of explanation on how they ended up like this, Mike came over and stole a kiss.

“Hi,” Sam smiled, feeling only a little breathless as Michael pulled back. As conflicting as his thoughts had been the past couple weeks, he never doubted how much he still liked Michael. The guy was gorgeous, and funny, and sweet, and he did things to Sam that no one else ever had. It would have been difficult to just turn off those feelings, and honestly, he didn’t want to. Mike made him happy. He really did. 

Reaching down, Michael ran a hand through Sam’s hair, pushing it behind an ear and whispering, “Hi. You two look comfy.”

“We were just studying.”

“ _ You’re _ studying,” Mike corrected, looking far too amused. “Lu is sleeping―and I’m a bit jealous that he gets to take so many naps on you.”

Sam glanced down and his chest felt tight with a strange emotion. Lucifer’s eyes were closed, breaths soft as he slept with one of Sam’s hands tangled comfortably in his hair. Aside from the obvious issue with their position, the biggest problem was that Sam had no memory of petting the other man. His hair was soft though, and his scalp was warm, and Sam was very reluctant to pull away.

“I’m going to get a shower, and then I’ve got to get to work,” Mike said with an apology in his tone. 

Sam nodded, disappointed.

“Don’t pout,” he whined. “You know it kills me when you pout.”

“Sorry. I just miss you.”

Michael’s eyes fluttered for a moment and he placed a hand over his heart. “You kill me, Sam. You kill me.”

“We can’t seem to get a day off together. I’m always at school, and you’re always at work. ”

“Or you’re under my brother,” Michael whispered with a grin.

Sam felt that familiar heat creep up his neck and he tucked hair behind his ears and looked elsewhere. “He started it.”

Mike looked fondly down at his brother, shaking his head.“Yeah, well, that’s Lu for you. He doesn’t believe in personal space,” He grinned again, reaching out to trail a finger along the collar of Sam’s shirt before slowly walking off down the hall. He called over his shoulder as he went, “Not to tempt you away from your very important work as a pillow, but I’ve got time for a  _ long _ shower before I leave, if you’re interested.”

“More than interested,” eager, Sam closed his notebook and quickly realised there was no easy way off the couch. Ignoring the way his boyfriend was laughing and leaving him to figure out his own problems, Sam lightly tickled at the side of Lucifer’s neck. “Hey, Luci, up.”

The man sleepily opened one eye, a hint of a smile creeping in. 

“Up,” Sam repeated, wiggling his fingers along the warm curve of Lucifer’s neck. 

“Didn’t know I’d fallen asleep.”

“We’ve got to stop doing this before it starts making your brother crazy.”

“Why the hell would Gabe care if I fall asleep on my friend?”

“Oh, you know damn well I mean Mike.”

“Yeah, well,” Lucifer pushed himself up, mumbling, “you should see how snuggly Mikey gets with his friends. He’s got no room to complain.”

“Ooh,” Sam laughed and shoved at the other man’s shoulders as he got off the couch, “stop it. Mike doesn’t have time to make friends, or time to lay on them.”

Lucifer fell back on the couch with a puff of breath, folding his arms over the top of his head and looking up at Sam. “You coming back?”

There was a small moment where Sam felt confused about the fact that he was leaving at all, then the sound of the shower came from down the hall. “Yeah. I’ll be up for round two of study time in a bit. Mike just got back from his run and…”

Understanding dawned, and Lucifer wrinkled his nose like he’d just tasted something bad. “Yeah. Go. Just keep the volume down. My headphones are back in my room and I don’t want to get up and get them.”

It was an incredibly reasonable request, but not one that Sam could absolutely swear to. So, he did the next best thing, running to Lucifer’s room to fetch his head phones before joining Michael in the shower.

A shower that wasn’t nearly long enough.

**.:. **

“You’re complaining that your tests were too easy?” Dean laughed over the phone line, his outrage pulling a grin from Sam.

“It’s not like I  _ wanted  _ it to be harder,” he argued, shifting his backpack while he walked. “It just felt like I was missing something, like a few pages or whatever.”

“My brother, the boy genius. You’re freaking out about nothin’,” Dean promised. “But, hey, if you somehow magically do get less than an A,  _ for the first time in your life _ , I’ll buy you a beer when you come home to visit.”

“Yeah well, if I don’t pass then you'll be in luck, because I’ll just be moving back home for good.”

“You’re so damn dramatic, Sammy. How’s about when you get your grades back and they’re all perfect, you can buy your college drop out of a brother a drink for once.”

“Deal,” Sam nodded, even though his brother was a couple thousand miles away and couldn’t see it. “As soon as my ID says I’m old enough to buy you a drink, I will.”

“ID- pssh,” Dean snorted, “is that the kind of bull they’re teaching you out there? Sammy, you’re going to be one pain in the ass to reteach this summer.”

“I’m looking forward to it.” Sam already had his flight booked. He hadn’t been back home in nearly a year. Far too long to go without seeing his big brother. “Alright, I'll let you get back to work. I finally made it to Mike’s place.”

“You mean Mike  _ and _ Luci’s place.”

“Shut up, jerk.”

“Have fun, man―and make sure you don’t accidentally kiss anyone you’re not dating, ok?”

Laughing, they said their goodbyes and hung up. Sam appreciated his brother’s bluntness, even if it came off a little sharp at times, it did a lot to help keep things in perspective. It didn’t hurt to occasionally be reminded who he was dating. 

The driveway was taken up by Lucifer’s crookedly parked pickup, Mike’s Jeep nowhere in sight. Frowning at the implications and the very not recommended one on one situation he was possibly walking into, Sam hopped up onto the porch and knocked on the door. 

No one answered, and frowning a little deeper, Sam pulled out his phone and texted his boyfriend’s brother.

He didn’t get any kind of text back, but he could hear the sound of fast and heavy footsteps, the front door lock sliding, and then Lucifer retreating. 

Sam eyed the door suspiciously before hesitantly going inside. “Everything ok?” He called into the empty looking house. 

“Taking my final,” Lucifer yelled from the direction of his room. “It’s timed, so shut up.”

Grining, Sam went into the kitchen and got himself a glass of water and plugged his phone in to charge. It was a little awkward to be in the house virtually alone and with nothing at all to do, and in less than five minutes he found himself slipping into Lucifer’s room to sit on the edge of the bed and watch the other man staring down his computer screen with a look of utter contempt. 

It was harder than it should have been resisting the urge to help the other man work through the long handed calculations that took up a whole page of binder paper. Sam liked helping, though this was not a good time. Thankfully, he found a nice distraction in the way that Lucifer was still in his pajamas despite the fact that it was nearly dinner time. 

As of late, Sam had started actively trying not to look too hard at his boyfriend's brother, especially since their few days together up at the cabin. Lingering a little too long without good reason tended to start Sam’s imagination going. And though he did his best to watch Lucifer plodding his way through his final, focusing on thinking the right answers to his friend in hopes that it would somehow help, Sam found himself a little distracted by the man’s ratty old tshirt. It had to be years old, washed so many times that regardless of what color it had started out as, it was now grey, and very full of holes. It was the kind of shirt that made Sam want to give the man a new shirt―or at very least take the offending shirt off of Lucifer. 

And that line of thought occupied Sam until the second that the other man pushed himself away from his computer with an irritated noise, suddenly noticed Sam, and let out a sharp sound. 

“Holy hell, Sam,” he swore, shaking himself before demanding, “Knock, or make some noise when you walk, or something. Stop creeping up on me all the time.”

“Sorry,” Sam grinned. “How’d your test go?”

“I got a C,” he flapped a hand at the computer screen dismissively, “but once it’s put in with the rest of my grades it’ll probably average out to a high B… I don’t test well.”

“Come on, a B is pretty good,” Sam nudged the other man’s knee with his own. 

He cocked a half smile and shrugged, twisting in his chair for a moment before asking, “How’d you do?”

Sam shrugged. “Won’t know until the end of the week, but I think I did ok.” He reached out and slipped a finger through one of the many holes in the other man’s shirt, grinning.

“It’s my lucky shirt,” Lucifer said defensively, slapping Sam’s hand away.. 

“Does it work though?”

He gestured at his computer screen as if that was all the proof he needed.

Sam laughed under his breath, shaking his head. “I’ve got a lucky shirt too. Stole it from my brother before I left home.”

“Does it work though?” Lucifer parroted back Sam’s question, in an only slightly mocking tone. 

“Well, last time I wore it was Halloween. So… mixed results?” Sam offered with another laugh. 

“Aw, that’s when you met me,” Lu teased, putting a hand to his chest. “A very lucky shirt.”

Sam shrugged and wrinkled his nose. “Like I said, mixed results.”

Laughing, Lucifer somehow still managed to look slightly offended. 

Even though he could have happily sat there joking around with his friend for the rest of the night, Sam was more than a little hungry. “You know when Mike’s supposed to be home?”

“Seven-ish in the morning?” Lucifer offered, reaching back towards his keyboard and mouse, clicking out of his school work. 

“He’s at work?” Sam felt his shoulders sag. “But the three of us were supposed to get dinner tonight.”

A conflicting look passed over the other man as he tugged at his lip, frowning. “Nothing stopping you and me from still going and getting dinner, is there?”

There almost definitely should have been a good reason why the two of them shouldn’t be going out to dinner alone together, but the only thing Sam managed to think of right then was how much safer it would be to go  _ out _ and have dinner with his friend, instead of staying here home alone together. 

“Well, there’s your lucky shirt,” Sam teased his way around those twisting funny feelings in his guts. “Don’t think any restaurant is going to let us in with you dressed like that.” 

It felt good being able to make his friend laugh, even if it got him kicked out of the room.

They eventually ended up at a restaurant Sam had never been at before, not a super fancy joint, but definitely outside his regular college student budget. 

As someone showed them to an empty table, Sam leaned into his friend and whispered, “I think I’ve got about twenty bucks in my bank account right now.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he elbowed Sam. “I’ll pay for this meal, you get the next one.”

The offer sparked memories of the first time that Michael took Sam out, and for a heartbeat there was a pang of guilt that he was out with Lucifer tonight. But this wasn’t a date, and he reminded himself of that over and over again as they settled in and looked at their menus. This was just two friends getting dinner. 

Not flirting, just dinner.

“Split a pizza with me,” Lucifer shook Sam from his quiet tumble of thoughts, by kicking him under the table. 

“Split a salad with me?” Sam countered.

Lucifer curled his lip and turned back to his menu, mumbling under his breath.

“Sorry, was that a yes I heard?”

Kicking at Sam again, Lucifer demanded, “Who goes out to eat and orders a salad?”

“Someone who thinks that an apple and walnut salad looks amazing,” Sam tilted his menu downward so the other man could see the page he was on. 

“Compromise and we get pizza and your lame salad?”

Sam looked at the very reasonable price on the salads before flipping over to the page that the other man was still looking at. The pizza was almost double the price and he frowned.

Lucifer read his face too easily, and simply took Sam’s menu away like that somehow could fix the problem. “Finals are done, summer’s starting, we’re about to eat some amazing pizza―so maybe stop frowning so much and relax for a bit.”

Easier said than done, but Sam held his hands up in surrender and did his best to not worry about the fact he was about to let Lucifer spend way too much money on dinner for them. “Yeah, yeah. I’m just not used to people buying my food.”

“Mike buys you food though.”

“That’s different. I’m dating him.” 

Lucifer made a soft sound of disgust. “Yeah, but one day you might not be, and I like to think at some point you’ll get used to people treating you right even if they aren’t dating you.”

Sam chuckled. “You make it sound like there’s something wrong with me. I’m fine. It’s just hard to see anyone spending money on me when I’m broke. Like… I should be able to take care of myself.”

“First off, this isn’t some kind of pity dinner because you’re broke. You  _ are _ buying next time... or at least making me waffles, and then we can be even. Second, every college freshman is broke off his ass. It’s part of life. Few years from now when you’re a lawyer? You’ll have more money than you know what to do with.”

Money was absolutely not why Sam had chosen his major, but Lucifer did have a way of selling him on the benefits. 

The waiter came by and they placed their orders, Sam grinning at the way his friend rolled his eyes when Sam said they’d be splitting the salad.

“Ok,” he laughed softly once they were alone again, “but it’s not going to hurt you to eat healthy.”

“People who want to ‘eat healthy’ are people worried about either getting in shape, or staying in shape. I’m neither of those. I love my body just the way it is.”

“Kudos on the healthy self image, but you seriously can’t live off coffee and waffles.”

“I eat other things too,” he laughed in defence of himself. “And I’m just as strong as you, no fruity salad needed.”

Sam grinned, loving his friend’s mock offence. Teasing, he reached across the table and gave Lucifer’s bicep a squeeze. “Eeh. I think I could take you.”

Laughing a sharp, surprised little giggle, Lucifer pulled his arm away, quickly frowning to try and hide the indignant sound he’d made. “Alright, alright, smart ass,” he rested his elbow on the table with a heavy thunk, holding his hand open expectantly.

“You want to arm wrestle me?” Sam grinned.

“Unless you’re chicken,” Lucifer wiggled his fingers, taunting.

They were in a restaurant. A nice restaurant. Not at all the sort of place suited for any kind of wrestling. And Sam flatly ignored all that in favor of grasping hands with his friend and grinning. 

It should have been an easy victory. Sam honestly didn’t think the other man had the upper body strength to put up much of a fight. But Lucifer took him by surprise and very nearly slammed Sam’s arm down flat in that first stunned second. They struggled together, pushing at one another and laughing. 

“How are you this strong?” Lucifer demanded between his teeth. “You’re still a teenager.”

Sam grinned and winked. “It’s all those salads I eat.” 

The wink helped more than he’d expected; Lucifer snorted and looked away, his arm leaning dangerously close to the table top. 

“Winking is cheating,” he hissed, shoulders shaking.

“Lu,” Sam urged, trying to get the other man to look back at him. “Luci, hey.”

Those blue eyes flicked back up, and Sam took the opportunity to blow his friend a kiss.

Lucifer lost it, his hand hitting the table hard enough that it rattled their glasses, he pulled away, covering his mouth as he laughed a deep bellied laugh. “You’re such an ass.”

“And a cheater,” Sam added, helping.

“And a cheater,” Lucifer agreed with a vigorous nod. 

Their server came by, setting down plates and food, giving both men an amused expression before telling them to enjoy their meal. 

Sam said his thanks and looked happily back at his food. It wasn’t all money consciousness, he really did enjoy a hearty salad, even if it was a disappointment to both his older brother and apparently his friend. 

“That looks… sad,” Lucifer eyed the salad with mistrust. 

“It looks awesome,” Sam kicked the other man under the table, “and you’re going to eat half of it, and you’re going to like it.”

Lucifer rolled his eyes, doing his best to ignore Sam and the threatening salad in favor of taking a steaming slice of pizza dripping with cheese. It looked amazingly unhealthy, and amazingly delicious. 

But Sam would eat his salad first, like a good kid. Only, when he reached for his silverware he noticed he didn’t have any. Their server must have forgotten, after all, forks weren’t needed for pizza. Sam turned in his seat, scanning the restaurant for any wayward waiter he could catch the attention of.

What he saw instead, after a quick double take, was Kelvin of all people. The man was sitting in a booth near the back of the restaurant with a look of complete adoration on his face as he held hands with a dark haired man. 

Unfortunately, Sam also recognised the second man, and that look he and Kelvin shared.. It was the same look his mom still gave Dad when John got up early to make her her favorite breakfast. That look was love, open and unapologetic, love. 

The man at the table holding Kelvin’s hands was Michael. 

That quiet revelation came like a punch to the stomach, and suddenly Sam found it near impossible to breathe. He was numb, his thoughts going quiet under a horrible rush of white noise

He didn’t even realise he’d gotten out of his seat until he was outside and the warm evening breeze was washing over his very hot cheeks.

“Hey,” Lucifer’s voice was almost unrecognizable as the man came jogging up to Sam, catching him by the shoulders. “Hey. Let me take you home.”

He didn’t ask if Sam was feeling ok. 

He was smarter than that.

Lucifer gingerly led Sam back to his truck, opening the passenger side door. 

Sam wasn’t really paying all that much attention. For all he cared, the other man could be leading him out into traffic at that moment.

One of them was mumbling about forgetting to pay for dinner, the same voice telling Sam to promise to stay right where he was. Slowly, very slowly, Sam’s eyes focused on the parking lot, the electric lights pooling around the parked cars, the lack of his friend anywhere in sight. 

A whisper of panic curled at the base of his spine, but it was instantly crushed under a caustic wave of anger. Sickening amounts of anger and Sam didn’t know if he wanted to yell or throw up. 

All those unexpected late-night shifts Mike had taken over the past couple months―how many of them had been a lie like tonight? 

How many times had Mike stayed the night with Kelvin, only to come home in the morning and crawl into bed beside Sam?

He started back towards the restaurant, determined to confront Michael, to discover how much of a naive kid he’d been. For better or worse, Lucifer caught up with him before he could reach the doors. The other man caught Sam with an arm around his waist, holding him surprisingly tight.

Sam wanted to tell his friend to let him go. He opened his mouth with that demand on the tip of his tongue, but the words came out, “He lied.”

“I know he did, Sammy,” Lucifer whispered as he easily turned Sam away from the restaurant. “But fuck him. Let’s go.” 

“I’m an idiot.”

“No. You’re not,” Lucifer promised.

“My boyfriend fell in love with someone else and I didn’t even notice.” Sam dragged his feet, standing still until the other man was forced to turn and look at him. “How did I not notice?” 

Whatever the answer was, if Lucifer knew it, he wasn’t sharing. He simply shook his head and walked Sam back to the truck. Like it was the most natural thing in the world he guided Sam into the passenger seat and buckled him in. His hand lingered, resting against Sam’s side. He took a sharp breath like he wanted to say something, but his jaws stayed clenched tight.

Sam looked away, scrubbing his hands through his hair, needing to move but finding himself very safely restrained. He crossed and uncrossed his arms over his chest a dozen times before finally putting his elbows against his knees and his face in his hands, breathing in a rattling way that tore at his throat.

It took getting nearly five miles between them and the restaurant before one of them managed to come up with something to say in that bitter silence. 

“You want me to take you home or… you want to go to the middle of nowhere and just yell…” Lucifer offered uncertainly, “or something?” 

“I want to go back to before I met your fucking brother… can we do that?” It wasn’t a serious answer, but it was certainly an option he wished he had. 

The quiet hum of the road started to settle back in, but Sam didn’t think he could take much more. He raised his head, squinting through bleary eyes out at the tail lights on the road ahead of them. 

Maybe his friend’s offer wasn’t so bad. 

Maybe yelling into the night is exactly what he needed. That or taking a swing at something, or someone. 

Sam glanced over at Lucifer and through the tightness in his chest and the buzzing in his brain, a very small flicker of recognition came through.

“What’s wrong with your hand?” Sam asked. 

Lucifer glanced over, one hand on the steering wheel, the other held in a very unnatural way against the center of his chest. Even with nothing other than the glow of the dashboard and the passing street lights to see by, the other man’s knuckles looked raw.

“I’m fine,” Lucifer said unconvincingly. 

“What did you do?” Sam reached out to touch his friend’s wrist, jerking back when Lucifer made a sharp sound. “Are you ok?”

“Don’t think anything’s broken,” he grumbled. “Let’s not worry about me.”

“I’d rather worry about you than me right now.” Sam forced his attention away from the other man’s obvious injury. “I… I’m so mad it hurts.”

First letting out a rough breath, Lucifer said in a rush, “I’m sorry.”

They were the right words, but from the wrong person. Sam ground his teeth and tried to swallow the lump in his throat. 

“I-I should’ve said something sooner,” Lucifer got out.

Sam started to shake his head. Finding out tonight, or yesterday, or weeks ago―it wouldn’t have made a difference. Before he could wave his friend off, the other man’s words caught up with him. “ _ Sooner _ ? You knew?!”

Lucifer kept his eyes fixed on the road, very hesitantly admitting, “Yeah.”

“You… you,” Sam felt two choking breaths away from a breakdown. “Fuck you.”

Shoulders going tight, Lucifer glanced over. 

“You’re supposed to be my friend,” Sam felt completely gutted. “You knew my boyfriend was cheating on me and you didn’t say  _ anything _ ?”

The muscle in the other man’s jaw jumped.

If Lucifer had tried to make any kind of excuse it would have set Sam off, but the continued silence stretched out between them and it was just as bad.

“I know he’s your brother,” Sam bit the words off, “but really, fuck you, you son of a bitch.”

With a sigh more like a growl, Lucifer smacked his good hand against the steering wheel a half dozen times before saying, “I wasn’t trying to protect Mike―” 

“Shut up,” Sam struck out, punching the other man’s shoulder. “I don’t wanna hear it.”

“Alright, I respect that, but also  _ ow _ .” 

Sam reached over and hit Lucifer again, not at all caring that they were in traffic, but in his defence, he’d already warned the other man to shut up. 

“Goddamnit, Sam!” The truck was aggressively pulled into an empty shopping center and Lucifer turned in his seat. “You don’t hit the driver.” 

“I fucking hate this.”

“Good. You’re allowed to,” Lucifer rubbed his shoulder, “just don’t start throwing punches when I’m driving. I’d prefer not to die tonight if that’s ok with you.”

Anger had never set well with Sam. He’d grown up trying to balance the need to be a good kid against the sharp hot temper that he’d inherited from his family. Frustration made his stomach a bundle of knots, and swearing, he beat his fists against the glovebox.

“Hey, hey,” Lucifer reached between them, catching Sam’s hands. “Come on. Leave the truck out of this. She’s not the one cheating on you.”

“You―” Something inside Sam felt utterly broken. He wrenched his hands free and swung at the other man. 

Even if Sam had actually wanted to hurt Lucifer, the cabs for trucks weren’t built for fist fighting. He just needed to do something or he felt like he would explode. He managed one half hearted hit that could hardly qualify as anything more than a rough shove, before Lucifer grabbed him by the wrists in a grip much tighter than before. 

Sam twisted in his seat, struggling and swearing. “Let me go, Lu.”

“Not until you’re less hit-y,” Lucifer said in a tight voice. “Look, I’m sorry. I-I knew my brother was getting some feelings that he shouldn't, but I had no idea it went any farther than that.”

Which might have been true, but it didn’t make a damn difference to that burning in Sam’s chest.

“I am real god damn sorry,” Lucifer chose his words carefully, “but I’m also not a punching bag, and if you keep hitting me I’m going to have to start hitting you back.”

It was like his friend had never been taught how to apologise, or how to comfort someone. 

“You suck at this,” Sam said through a strained laugh. 

“Yeah, well thankfully I don’t have much practice.” He relaxed his hands the tiniest bit, a wary look in his eyes. “You’re gonna be ok―and that’s probably not what you wanna hear either.”

Sam didn’t know what he wanted to hear. There weren't  _ ‘right’  _ words for a time like this. All that doubt he’d had from back during spring break had returned full force. That persistent feeling that he wasn’t good enough, and that Mike had simply gotten tired of him. All kinds of awful like a crushing weight on his chest.

“I-I don’t wanna hear anything,” Sam managed to say.

Lucifer didn’t relax so much as he simply slumped in his seat, cheek pressed against his headrest, hands still wrapped around Sam’s wrists. It was hard to tell in the dark, but his eyes were wide and he was watching from his side of the seat with such a deeply pained expression. 

Sam didn’t want pity. He already had plenty, all rattling around and breaking him up inside. He wanted to stay angry. Warm and angry and indignant―and if he couldn’t keep hold of that, he’d take the next best option.

He pushed himself forward, as far as the seat belt would allow, and it was more than enough to close the distance between him and Lucifer. Sam kissed his friend with no gentleness offered and no permission asked. A rough kiss that came as a bit of a shock to both of them, Sam acting on a clearly not well thought out impulse, and Lucifer making a muffled sound of surprise. 

Sam pulled one of his arms free and he fit his fingers along the line of the other man’s jaw, deepening the kiss, pulling his friend closer. 

With a sharp breath, Lucifer turned his face away. He licked his lips as his eyes flicked from the empty parking lot, to Sam, and back outside. “I-I… um, hey, um, Sam,” he stuttered, struggling to put together something that might resemble a sentence. 

None of those little sounds started with a ‘no’ however, and Sam unbuckled his seatbelt and slid over until his knee hit the steering wheel. He pushed his hand through Lucifer’s hair, cupped the back of his head and kissed him again. 

Lucifer made a small sound, nothing at all like a protest as he opened his mouth a kissed back. 

A rush of excitement blotted out Sam’s anger, and suddenly nothing else that had happened today mattered. His heart was still pounding, his head rushing with a dizzying white sound, but none of it from anger. All those tumbling thoughts and doubts fled as Lucifer murmured his name between kisses. 

He was completely lost in that feeling. He wasn’t thinking anything beyond a resounding ‘yes’. Sam hadn’t realised how much he wanted this, or how much he needed it, or how far he planned to take it, until Lucifer was turning away with nervous laughter as he pulled Sam’s hands from his belt buckle. 

“Oh,” Lucifer took a deep breath through his teeth, shaking his head, “ok. No. Nope.”

Sam was shaking, but he didn’t know why. “No?”

“No,” Lucifer said carefully, holding Sam’s hands too tightly.

Swallowing hard, and failing to catch the other man’s eyes, Sam quietly asked, “I thought there was something you wanted to teach me…” 

That nervous laughter came back and Lucifer firmly pushed Sam’s hands, and Sam, back to the passenger side of the car.

A curl of something bad flickered back to life inside of Sam and he demanded, “Why not?”

Lucifer didn’t answer immediately, staring out through the lightly fogged windshield, shaking his head. “I… I’m gonna drop you off at the dorms.”

Guilt struck Sam like a sucker punch, leaving him feeling carved out and raw except for the sudden almost overwhelming feeling of shame. 

Apparently kissing his sleeping friend a few mornings ago wasn't enough for Sam. No. He needed to drive a giant wedge between them by assaulting Lucifer like a drunk prom date.

Sam curled against his door, pressing the back of a hand over his mouth, and watched the traffic moving outside the truck as they got back on the road.

It was a short drive and painfully quiet, which left far too much space for Sam to be alone with his thoughts. The moment that the truck slowed to a crawl near the front doors to his building, Sam popped the door and hopped out. Ignoring the stuttering sounds of protest from the other man, he slammed the passenger door and quickly went inside. 

He couldn’t deal with any of this. Not tonight. He didn’t even know how to start coming to terms with everything that had happened in the last hour.

But after a restless night of tossing and turning, he wasn’t any closer to knowing what to do.

  
  



	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and here we have a lot of Dean giving Sam a hard time, and some much needed support <3
> 
> brotherly bonding is one of my favorite things to write :3

“Whoah, whoah, start at the beginning,” Dean set his drink down, eyebrows low. 

Sam tried his best to not rise to the bait of his brother’s outraged tone, curling and uncurling his straw wrapper around a finger. “I’d rather not.”

“Dude, you can’t just say ‘ _ we broke up’ _ and leave it,” he kicked at Sam’s ankles under the table. “Last time I talked to you, you guys were goin’ all hot and heavy. Oh!” His eyes lit up and his scowl turned into a grin. “Does this mean you finally grew a pair and asked his brother out?”

Taking a slow breath in and out, Sam leveled Dean with a steady look. 

They stayed locked in place like that until their server came and set two burgers down between them. It was like a truce, like the waitstaff had given them permission to stop staring one another down. 

Still grinning like a madman, Dean picked up a french fry and pointed at Sam with it, “So, you’re saying you’re single and you want your big brother to set you up on a date.”

“What? No.”

“Great! I’ve already got someone in mind.”

“Dean, don’t you dare.”

“Come on. What’s a brother for? ”

“Please just let me eat,” Sam pleaded.

“Yeah, yeah. I know. You’re a growing boy and you haven't eaten all day,” Dean said like he honestly couldn’t imagine a worse insult. “I could’ve PayPal-ed you some cash if you’d told me earlier.”

“First off, since when do you know what PayPal is? Second, I’m not paying six dollars for a fun sized bag of potato chips at the airport.” Sam had spent most of his afternoon with an unexpected layover in Denver, a delay that had taken hours, but he was finally back in Kansas. 

He was home. 

Or at least fifty miles west of the town he’d grown up in, a couple blocks down from his brother’s apartment. So really Sam was more home-adjacent, but he had his brother, a plate of food, and almost two thousand miles between him and his problems, so he was in a decent mood for the first time in nearly a week.

He knew that eventually his brother would get all the gory details of the breakup, but by how well Benny had taken the news, Sam had some reluctance in sharing. His roommate had wanted to know Mike’s address so he could go ‘sort him out’, and Benny was just a friend. Dean would want to do very much worse―and Sam didn’t need his honor defended. He was doing a fine job of ignoring his former boyfriend’s texts and phone calls, and really, as far as Sam was concerned that was all that Mike deserved for now. 

If Michael hadn’t felt a need to talk to Sam about something as important as falling in love with someone else, then Sam didn’t need to talk to Michael about the fact that they we no longer dating. 

They’d talk about it when Sam got back to California in August, if they ever talked about it. 

“So,” Sam wasn't interested but he also knew that there’d be almost no talking Dean out of it, so he asked, “what’s she like?”

“She who?” Dean mumbled with a mouth full of fries.

“The girl you’re setting me up with?”

“How do you know it’s a girl?” Dean squared his shoulders. “Maybe I know some fabulous gay guy who’d be perfect for ya’.”

“There are no gay men in Kansas.” Sam smiled, realising how much he missed all the things that his brother pretended to take offence at. “But, this girl you’ve got in mind… what’s she like?” 

Which was basically as bad as outright giving Dean permission to set Sam up on as many blind dates as possible for the next two months. 

The first one wasn’t actually bad, and it lulled Sam into a sense of false security. Her name was Ginny, she was a cousin of a female friend of Dean’s, visiting from out of town, lit major at Texas State, great smile, and very pleasant to kiss goodnight. 

The second date was a lot less like a  _ date  _ and a lot more like Sam simply trying to innocently play pool with his brother, and suddenly being approached by a young woman thanking him for buying her a drink, while Dean grinned and winked as Sam with a silent  _ you’re welcome _ . 

Sam had nothing against the girl. Her name was Amy, she smelled nice, giggled almost constantly, and made out with Sam in the parking lot when he walked her to her car. 

Those kinds of ‘dates’ were pretty par for the course with Dean. Usually unexpected and unasked for, but always pretty and very handsy, and within a week, Sam was begging his brother to knock it off. Dean was his usual self―not seeing how Sam could possibly complain about no strings attached make out sessions with attractive strangers―but after enough threatening he finally agreed that maybe it was a bit too much too soon and he’d take it easier on Sam.

Which wasn’t a promise that Sam put any faith in, so when his big brother suggested they go out and catch a movie, Sam gave the firm counter offer of staying in and watching something on TV. Dean only agreed if they could order a pizza and payperview a wrestling match. Even though they were both fully grown, some things refused to change. 

“Order a real pizza though,” Dean urgerd, peering over Sam’s shoulder at his phone. 

Turning the little screen against his chest, Sam frowned. “I  _ am _ .”

“I saw you putting veggies on that thing.”

“There’s sausage too, jerk” he laughed and continued placing his order, ignoring Dean’s suggestions while pointing out, “We both need to be able to eat this though.”

A text notification flickered at the top of the phone. Grinding his teeth, Sam flicked the text bubble away. 

“Did that say ‘Mike’?” Dean asked, resting his chin on Sam’s shoulder.

Feeling a creep of irritation coming on, Sam shook his brother off. “Yeah. I guess it did.”

“What’s the ex saying?”

“Don’t know, don’t care.” Sam hit confirm on the pizza order and closed out the app.

“Really, man?” Dean scoffed. “You’re just ok keeping me in the dark about all this? I tell you everything.”

“Yeah, even when I ask you not to.”

“Come on. You’re my brother. You’re suddenly dating a guy, then you’re not, then we’re not talking about him. Did he do something? Do I need to go to California and fuck him up?”

“No, Dean.” Sam pushed his hair from his eyes. “We just broke up. People do that. I mean, come on. Who stays with their first boyfriend forever anyways?”

Dean’s eyebrows were high as he looked up at Sam rather doubtfully.

Sam put his phone away and moved around his brother, going to the house’s front room, to sit on the couch and not pout. Dean didn’t follow him right away, so there was a small span of quiet where Sam got to push his heels against the coffee table and try and get his thoughts back in order. Something that should have been much easier than it was.

It’s not like Sam had been in love. 

But he’d really liked Mike. They’d been friends, good friends, with a lot of extra benefits. More than all that though, he’d trusted the guy.

And worse than any betrayal of trust, after all these weeks of ignoring the guy, Sam found he’d actually started to miss Michael. 

Without his brother there to read too much into his actions, Sam reached into his pocket to pull out his phone―and instantly frowned. Sitting up, Sam did a quick pat down of all his pockets to discover that his phone was gone. He’d just had it though. It had been in his hands minutes ago when he’d ordered the pizza, and he was positive that he’d put it back in his right hip pocket. He stood, looking at the couch in confusion, not seeing the phone anywhere. 

“Who the hell is Kelvin?” Dean called from the other room.

Sam’s stomach went tight, and he scrambled to make it around the couch and back to his brother, only to find Dean still standing in the kitchen.

“Dude,” Sam lifted his arms in confusion and anger. “You stole my phone?”

Dean turned the phone around, showing Sam the screen and pointing at the open text messages. “He’s sorry you had to find out about him and  _ Kelvin _ like that?”

“You can’t just read my texts.”

“Don’t try and change the subject, Sammy. He was  _ cheating  _ on you?”

“I-I guess so…”

“You guess so? You’re not sure? Because the son of a bitch was sure apologizing to you like he did.” Dean’s cheeks were flushed with anger, all kinds of overprotective. “Did you beat the shit out of him?”

“No,” Sam felt out of place, taken aback, not by the way that Dean was outraged on his part but in the way that Sam couldn’t find the same anger to match his brother’s. “No. I just left the restaurant.”

“They were having sex in a restaurant?”

“No. Dean.” Sam let out a rough breath and snatched his phone back. “They were having dinner.” 

“That’s… that’s it? Dude was apologising like you caught him with his pants down. Son of a bitch could have at least tried talking his way out of being caught having  _ dinner  _ with some other guy. He didn’t even try. Whatever happened to plausible deniability?”

Sam wasn’t really listening to Dean’s dubious complaints, if he was then he might have questioned whose side his brother was currently on. 

Instead he found himself completely lost in Michael’s half dozen messages.

The texts had started coming in the same night that Sam saw his boyfriend and Kelvin together, and the texts had kept coming for three days, and then nothing at all for weeks. Sam hadn’t read a single one, but he hadn’t deleted them either. Part of him had known that he’d want to open them at some point to find out what the other man had to say in his own defence. 

There was a flash of anger as Sam read over Michael’s brief attempt at excuses. There were only two texts like that though; all the rest were just parts of a very long and very painful apology. 

Mike wholly blamed himself. He should have been less of a coward and came right out and told Sam that he loved him as a friend, one of the best friends he’d ever had. He should have told Sam he’d started falling for someone else. He should have trusted Sam enough to tell him the truth. He wasn’t asking for forgiveness. He didn’t think he honestly deserved it. But he still loved Sam as one of the most amazing and wonderful people he’d ever met and he knew that Sam would be resilient and find himself a better lover, and a better friend.

It was all hard to read, especially with Dean standing a few feet away, complaining―because apparently if Dean had been dumb enough to cheat on a long term relationship he at least would have still been smart enough to talk his way out of getting caught.

“Shut up for a second. Please,” Sam pleaded, pushing at his brother’s shoulder and walking away. 

Tonight’s text was different.

**Hey. There’s a lot of your stuff here at the house. Books, and clothes, your favorite sleeping shirt. that kind of stuff. Can I drop them off at the dorms for you? I can just leave them at the front desk if that’s ok. No hurry to answer. I’ll hold on to it all for you until you decide what you want me to do with it**

Sam sank back down onto the couch, pressing the edge of the phone to his forehead.

After not too long, Dean joined him, actually keeping his mouth shut for a change.

Back when they were kids, a usual Saturday night for them meant staying up too late, watching WWE long after Dean the babysitter should have had Sammy in bed. They’d share a frozen pizza, a bag of popcorn, and a couple of Cokes, while they yelled at the grainy TV screen until they could see the headlights of Mom and Dad coming up the driveway. 

Those were good memories, but Sam struggled to embrace that old nostalgia, and instead spent a good fifteen minutes setting his phone aside and then picking it back up and sighing deeply. 

“Call him or don’t. Just _pick one_ _already_,” Dean whined as he pushed himself up to go get the front door.

Sam blinked and watched his brother open the door and take the pizza from the delivery guy. It’s not like he wanted to admit that he was so distracted by tonight’s texts, but seeing as Sam hadn’t even heard the doorbell, maybe it would be best if he put his phone in a different room. Out of sight, out of mind. Or at least he could hope. 

He came back to the room to find that his brother was somehow already on his second slice of pizza, and that got a sharp laugh out of Sam. 

“Really?”

“What? There’s still plenty left for you.” Dean pushed the box closer to Sam’s side of the couch. “You text the son of a bitch back?”

“Not yet.” Sam took a slice of pizza and sank into the cushions.

“You know,” Dean drawled, “it’s kind of funny if you think about it.”

“The match?” He glanced back at the screen, confused that he might have missed something good.

“No, man. Your boyfriend cheating on you.”

Sam thought that he prefered the overprotective side of his brother. Grunting and kicking at Dean’s ankled, he firmly said, “Shut up.”

“I mean, you know, your Mike is fallin’ in love with another guy at the same time you were fallin’ for his brother.”

“I-  _ what _ ?” Sam nearly choked on his pizza. “I didn’t fall for… shut up, Dean.”

“There you were, with your boyfriend’s brother,  _ kissin’ _ him.”

Sam felt almost sick.

“K-I-S-S-I-N-G,” Dean sang in the most childish way possible.

“That was  _ after _ I found out Mike was with Kelvin,” Sam shook his head, “it doesn’t count. It-it’s not the same thing.”

“After?” Dean lit up, grinning like a man man. “ _ After _ ? I was talking about when he was sleeping and you were sneaking a kiss, you kinky bastard. What do you mean  _ after _ you found out?”

Squirming under his brother’s scrutiny, Sam cringed and muttered, “You’re right. It was just that one time. Nothing after.”

“You’re so full of shit, Sammy,” Dean’s words harsh, but his tone delighted. “You fooled around with him, didn’t you? You make it to second base? Or… I mean… what do you call second base if neither of you’ve got any tits?”

Sam had no idea. Moreover, he didn’t care. 

He put his face in his hands and suffered.

“I mean, it’s not butt-stuff, obviously... cause… you know, that’s probably sort of the… the endgame plan… right?” The things Dean felt comfortable saying and the things that he shied away from followed a logic only he could follow. 

“Please drop it.”

“Alright. It’s your ass, your business,” Dean reached out for his beer sitting on the coffee table, hesitating. “But you  _ did _ fool around with him. Didn’t you? You dog.”

It wasn’t nearly that cut and dry. 

Dean kept on grinning, looking so proud of Sam, nudging his baby brother with the bottom of his beer bottle. 

“I… I was pissed at Mike. I don’t really remember what happened,” Sam lied. He remembered every rough touch in painfully sharp resolution. “But Lu said no and dropped me off at the dorms. It’s whatever. It was a shitty night and I’m over it.”

That eager grin soured and Dean squared his shoulders. “Wait- wait- wait, are you saying this little ‘don’t ask don’t tell’ session was the same night you found out about your boyfriend and his little side dish?”

Not knowing or caring why this would matter to his brother, Sam stole the beer and took a long swallow. He didn’t usually like the taste, but it wasn’t awful.

“Damn it, Sam. Sometimes I think I did a real shit job raising you.”

Sam punched his brother’s shoulder. 

“I’m serious here. You’re giving me that second hand embarrassment shit. You  _ actually  _ tried to revenge fuck your boyfriend’s brother?” He stole back his beer and finished it off, before shaking his head in obvious disappointment. “You couldn’t have kept it in your pants a few days? Waited for things to calm down? You really got to go full tilt into everything, don’t you?”

“ _ No _ ,” Sam made a face. “It wasn’t like that.”

Dean rolled his eyes. “I’ve been on both sides of that kind of break up, and trust me, man, just say no. You wanna get frisky with your guy, fuckin’ do it. But good god, you’ve got to work on your timing.” He shook his head again. “Nothing says ‘I like you’ quite like ‘I’m pissed off at my boyfriend and wanna get even at him by boning the first guy I can get my hands on’.” 

Feeling very overwhelmed by the suggestion that maybe he’d kissed Lucifer for a very different reason than he’d thought, Sam hardly heard his brother continue.

“I was dating this girl named Cassy around the time you left,” Dean had jumped to a very different topic though. “You remember her?”

Dimly Sam nodded, his mind pulling up faint memories of a dark haired woman with a disarming smile. 

“We got pretty serious,” Dean sighed, eyes going distant. “Like…  _ really _ serious. We picked out this place together,” he pointed his empty beer bottle around the living room. 

And that was a statement strange enough to pull Sam out of his quiet, self reflecting horror show. “You guys bought a house together?”

“Pretty stupid, right?”

Sam looked over at his brother like he was a stranger. 

“I mean, I didn’t buy a ring or anything,” Dean did that thing he always did when conversations started to get too serious, grinning a grin that left his eyes flat and humorless. “But we did decide to make sure that it was a two bedroom place for when we might… you know, have a kid or something.”

“I-I had no idea.”

“Yeah well, I fucked it up pretty bad before you and me really had a chance to talk about it. This is before you had a cell phone, and it wasn’t the kind of thing you put in an email… you know I hate email.” He licked his lips. “I’m gonna get another beer. You want one?” 

Sam wasn’t sure if he said yes or no, but either way he ended up with a cold beer in his hands, his big brother sinking down beside him with a grunt.

The match kept going on the television, the spectators on the screen cheering almost like they were mocking the awkward quiet in the house.

Playing with the bottle cap that he didn’t know how to remove without an opener, Sam finally asked, “What happened?”

“With me an’ Cassy?” Dean was fantastic at playing dumb.

Sam waited, he had nothing else to do tonight. 

“Me and her,” Dean let out a long, low breath, “when we were together we were great at two things, fighting and makeup sex. At some point, I guess we got better at one than the other.” He shrugged one shoulder. “That’s old news. Months ago. I’m alright, so stop giving me that bleeding heart puppy look you’re doin’.”

“Sorry, Dean. I just―I had no idea this was going on.”

“Yeah well, you’ve got problems of your own, my man. I was only telling you about me an’ Cassy so you’d know we all fuck up. I think it’s our blood or something.”

“Dean…” Sam’s chest felt tight as he tried to sort out what he could possibly say to that. “I’m fine. I’m over Mike... and Lu.”

“Sure you are,” Dean laughed, finally taking Sam’s beer from him and popping the cap against the edge of the coffee table. “You got pissed at your boyfriend, so you thought you’d get even, and now you're hiding from your phone.”

“That’s not why―” Sam was very almost sure of himself, but the seed of doubt had been planted. Clenching his jaw he repeated himself, “that’s not why I kissed Lu.” 

“Maybe. But does  _ he  _ know that?” 

The fact that Sam waited to make his phone call until Dean went to bed in no way validated any of the things that his big brother had been saying. The fact that Mike usually worked nights, so was very unlikely to answer Sam’s phone call, also didn’t confirm any of Dean’s accusations.

The odds of being able to leave a voicemail did however do a lot of calm the nervous butterflies in Sam’s stomach.

Unfortunately for him, Mike picked up on the second ring.

Neither of them said hello at first. 

They just breathed at one another for a few long seconds. 

“You there,” Michael asked softly, “or did you manage to somehow butt-dial me?”

“I’m here.” It would be so much better if hearing his ex’s voice didn’t summon up such a horrible mix of feelings in Sam. “I saw your text… about my stuff?”

“Right. Of course. You, um, you want me to drop it all off at the dorms?”

Sam closed his eyes and tried to make himself relax. “No. I moved out.”

“Oh!”

“I’m out in Kansas for the summer, working with my brother―but I’ll be back to Stanford in August,” he quickly explained to the silence on the other end of the phone, then hesitantly asked, “would you mind hanging on to my stuff until then?”

Michael laughed unevenly, letting out a long breath. “Yeah. Yeah, I can hang on to it all. I was just scared for a second that you’d really,  _ really _ left. You know?”

“I’d told you I was probably going home for the summer.”

With his laughter turning uneasy, Michael softly confessed, “I don’t remember that.” 

“Yeah well,” Sam rolled over on to his side, looking at the mostly empty bookcase against the far wall of the second bedroom. “You were pretty distant for a while there.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“Can we please not do this tonight?”

A pained sound came down the line, noises of Mike collecting himself.

Sam could imagine exactly how the other man would look right then; that little pinch of worry between his dark eyebrows, the sharp line of his mouth.

“Late happy birthday,” Michael finally offered with some forced cheer.

It was as much of a peace offering as anything. 

Sam smiled and closed his eyes. “Thank you.”

“You’re nineteen,” Mike drawled. “Couple more years you’ll be old enough to drink.”

“ _ Legally _ , you mean.”

“Legally,” he agreed with an easy laugh. “You do anything good for your birthday?”

“Well, I made out with a girl… I guess that was good?”

“It’s the way you say it like a question that really sells it, Sam.”

Sam grinned, turning his face towards his pillow as he chuckled.

“Did you… did you get to touch a boob?” Michael asked, almost too eager. 

Sam laughed harder, trying to keep his voice down so he wouldn’t wake up his brother sleeping down the hall.

“Eww,” he snickered and then asked, “What was it like?”

If it had been almost anyone else, Sam wouldn’t even have considered answering. This was Michael though, and Michael already knew the sum and total of every sexual experience Sam had had up to date. Granted, that was because Mike had been an active participant―but still, it felt almost strange that Sam had done something that the other man didn’t know about. 

“She was soft,” he said finally, and after some thought added, “and she was small.”

“So, the opposite of me?”

“I mean, sure?” Sam laughed. “If I was only going to describe you as big and hard, then yeah, she can be the opposite of you.”

Mike snorted, laughing along with Sam a little too loudly, obviously not as worried about the possibility of waking anyone where he was. “Oh my god, I missed you way too much.”

It was only a few words, and they almost definitely weren't meant to mean as much to Sam as they did. But before he even had a chance to ask how Mike could possibly find the time to miss him while screwing his new boyfriend, someone out in California started raising their voice.

“It’s midnight. Who the hell are you giggling with in here?” Lucifer’s voice was unmistakable, even from so far away.

Sam felt his heart jump into his throat and all his thoughts muddled together with warm confusing feelings. 

“None of your damn business,” Michael hissed, his voice growing muffled as he covered the phone. “Go away, you ass.”

Arguing started up on the other end of the phone and by the time the brothers sorted themselves out, and Michael mumbled some apologies, Sam had sorted out all his thoughts.

“I kissed your brother,” he said in a rush to fill the sudden quiet that greeted him.

Whatever else Mike might have been readying himself to say came apart with a bubble of laughter, and he hardly managed a confused, “Yeah?”

“Yeah. I mean,  _ sort of _ . We were both pretty much asleep so it didn’t,” Sam paused, realising he couldn’t really say it ‘didn’t count’. “I mean...yeah. I did. I kissed him, and I’m sorry. I was kind of a shitty boyfriend.”

“Honey, no,” Mike sounded pained. “I was the shitty boyfriend. You were―”

“I never said you  _ weren’t _ shitty too,” Sam quickly corrected. “You were having sex with someone else and just didn’t think that was a big enough deal to tell me about it. You suck, and I’m still pretty pissed, but also mostly over you, so… yeah.”

Michael stayed quiet for long enough that Sam had to glance at his phone to make sure he hadn’t dropped the call.

“I’m not sleeping with Kelvin,” Michael finally said, even though that wasn’t supposed to be his response to hearing that Sam had cheated on him in a very small way. 

“Well… no sex sounds like a personal problem.”

“Like,  _ not at all _ ,” Michael tried to clarify. “We’ve never even kissed.”

“Look, you don’t have to lie because you’re worried about my feelings. I’m over it.”

“I almost wish I was lying,” Mike grumbled before adding, “because that would make things a lot simpler between me and Kelvin. But I couldn’t.”

Sam rolled his eyes, still not buying the line.

“You and me were still dating, and I… I just couldn’t. And then you left, but we never  _ officially _ broke up, so it still didn’t feel right. I’m over here trying my hardest not to be intentionally awful, and now Kelvin’s actually not talking to me for it, because he says I still haven't picked one of you.” Michael was rambling, and he didn’t usually get this way, but it was easy to tell that he was upset. “It’s not like that, but it’s hard to convince him that I love you like a friend, but I still can’t have sex with him because you and me are still sort of dating and…  _ Sam _ ! Stop laughing. This is some Shakespearian levels of tragic, and you’re involved, so start acting like it and be tragic with me.”

“Sorry,” Sam’s cheeks hurt from how hard he was grinning, “but you and me are really,  _ really _ broken up. I didn’t know you were waiting for clarity on that one.”

“It’s hard to be sure when I haven't had a chance to talk to you for a month.”

“I know I’m still new to this kind of stuff, but I assumed that ghosting you and then leaving the state was a pretty clear break up.” 

Michael groaned. “That’s what everyone else was saying, but… you know…  _ friends _ . We were friends. I felt like I owed you some kind of proper break up. Which is really hard to do when you won’t talk to me.”

“I  _ am  _ talking to you. Question is, why are you still talking to me? Go find Kelvin. Tell him you’re currently very single, and also very interested in fixing that.”

Snorting, Michael argued, “Kelvin can keep his pants on a little longer. I haven't heard your voice in forever and I’m not ready to hang up just yet.”

Oddly enough, Sam wasn’t ready either. 

They ended up talking until Mike’s cell phone started beeping at him that the battery was low. 

Sam said his goodnights and set his own phone on the night stand, untangling the charging cable that it had been plugged into since he laid down in bed. Frowning, he double checked that he wasn’t reading the clock wrong. It was nearly five in the morning. 

Rubbing sleep from his eyes, and his grin from his face, Sam sprawled back onto the bed. He’d been on the phone with Mike for hours. Feeling lighter than he had in weeks, Sam turned his face to his pillow and quickly fell asleep. 

**   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bet you didn't expect another chapter so soon, right?  
I ended up with a stomach bug and had 2 days at home, which was ample time to write about Luci struggling with the fact that Sam has returned to Stanford <3

Lucifer’s fantastic mood started to fade the moment he pulled into the driveway and saw his brother’s car. It was late afternoon. Mike shouldn’t be home. Then again, Lu had been gone nearly a week, out in the woods with no cell phone reception and no communication with his older brother or the rest of civilization. 

Stalling, he fiddled with his phone, car keys dangling between his fingers while he texted,  _ ‘ _ **hey. I'm finally home. Want to get dinner?’**

Maybe Mike had the day off even though he normally worked weekends. It didn’t matter that much. Lucifer would only be home for long enough to catch a shower and change into something clean. He had better things to do than try to not fight with Michael.

Pulling his things out of the back of the truck, he dragged himself reluctantly into the house, mentally preparing for all the questions he was bound to be asked.  _ How was camping? How’s Dad? Did you guys actually go fishing, or just drink yourselves stupid for a week?  _ All those normal things that Michael always asked. 

Only, when Lucifer got in the house, the place he usually dumped his things was occupied by a stack of cardboard boxes. 

“Hello?” He called uncertainly.

“Hey?” Mike called back from the garage, popping his head out and grinning. “ _ Hey _ . I didn’t know you were coming back today.”

“Yeah, well, we didn’t really set a date. What’s with the, um...?”

“The moving boxes?” Mike supplied with an amused expression. 

Lucifer opened and closed his mouth, searching for a response to that. “Am I going somewhere?”

“Not unless  _ you _ wanted to move in with Kelvin. But that might get kind of awkward. I guess you could move to his place, and he could move in here with me...“ Michael was obviously enjoying himself far too much.

This wasn’t the first time that Lucifer was hearing about this from his brother. Plans for the happy couple to live together had been on the table for a few weeks before Lu had left. He didn’t realise that those plans had been finalised in his absence though. 

“Plus I already found you a replacement roommate,” Michael carried on, that same stupid grin in place, “and it’ll be weird if I have to tell him he’s got to go to a different house.”

“You're a terrible actor. Just shut up,” Lucifer ran his hands through his hair, collecting himself. “Wait― you found me a roommate? That was quick.”

“For  _ you _ , yeah, but I’ve been trying to find some idiot willing to live with you all summer.” Mike came into the house with a box braced against his chest. “I wasn’t going to just stick you with both our halves of the rent. You’re welcome.”

It was a lot to take in all at once, and Lucifer was struggling to catch up. He took the box from his brother, setting it beside the others. 

“So, wait though, you were just going to move out while I was gone?”

“No,” Michael said with a grit of irritation in his voice. “That wasn’t  _ the plan _ , but today was the day your new roommate could move in, so out I go. I was going to explain it all to you when you got back―just like I’m doing right now. You know, for someone who just got back from vacation you are really high strung. How was it, by the way? You and Dad have some good manly bonding time, becoming one with nature, or did you two just spend the whole week drunk off your asses?”

“Don’t change the subject.”

“That means  _ yes _ ,” Mike rolled his eyes, laughing, going back to the garage. 

“Don’t walk away when I’m talking to you.”

“I’ve got stuff to do, Lu. You wanna talk, come out here and help me.”

He tugged at his lip, irritated, but also knowing that if he followed his brother he’d be put to work. And he  _ really  _ didn’t want to help Mike pack. 

“So,” he yelled in the direction of the open garage, “what sort of serial killer did you invite to move in here with me?”

“He’s probably not a murderer, and he’s definitely cute.”

Lucifer wasn’t against the idea of living with a good looking roommate. It would surely be better than constantly fighting with Michael. “Is he straight?”

“Do I know any straight guys?” He countered back.

“Single?”

“I think so.”

It had taken him a second to figure out what his brother was up to, but he smiled as he realised what all this was. Since they were kids, Mike had always been the one with the peace offerings. Lucifer, if left to his own devices, could hold onto his anger for months―but not Mike. Mike was a fixer. He could never let an argument sit between them. 

Apparently he’d gotten it into his head that the best way to apologise for a summer of clipped arguments was by gifting Lucifer a blind date of a new roommate. 

“And you said he’s cute?”

“ _ Very _ cute,” Michael said coming through the kitchen with another box, “and that ass...” He shook himself. “You are  _ very _ welcome.”

Stubbornly, Lucifer wiped the smile off his face, not willing to have any witnesses to his quiet amusement. “Well, a tight ass or not, I don’t care what sort of promises you made this guy, I still get some say in who I live with.”

Mike shrugged as much as he could while holding an armful of things. “I guess that’s fair, but I was super picky and I swear he’s perfect. He’s got a job. He’s a student. Really low key, calm kind of guy. Even  _ you  _ would have a hard time picking a fight with him. And did I mention that ass?”

“It’s been brought up once or twice, yeah,” he refused to crack a smile.

“Just wait. He just went out to get us lunch. You’ll take one look at him and thank me. And I, like the gentleman I am, will discreetly and modestly accept your thanks.” 

It would have been nice to know earlier that they were on such a tight schedule. It would have given Lucifer a timeframe to come to terms with the fact that they were expecting company, and he could have prioritised getting a shower instead of arguing with Mike.

The rumble of a car’s engine settling just outside was the brief and only warning that Lucifer got before the front door opened behind him. 

Irritation overwhelmed the small swell of panic at life being out of his control, because how dare this new guy just let himself in when nothing was official. Lucifer turned around and instantly felt his insides go funny. He didn’t want to feel obligated to say thank you to his brother―but  _ hot damn _ .

This here was not one of Mike’s usual clean cut, fashionable and fabulous gay friends. This was a rough around the edges, faded jeans and Black Sabbath t-shirt wearing, messy hair, bright green eyed, freckle cheeked, smirking man carrying a stack of takeout boxes. 

“And you must be Lu,” the stranger said. “Didn’t know you were gonna’ be home today.”

“Hi,” he answered back, trying to hide any stupid lingering glances he might have by taking the food. “It’s just Luci, or Lucifer. No one calls me Lu.”

“ _ Luci _ ,” the guy repeated with a grin. “Yeah. Alright. Sam said you were the weird one. I’m Dean.”

“You― you’re a friend of Sam’s?” Lucifer should have known. He should have known there was a weird catch to this whole situation. “Oh,” he managed to breath out as he moved to the kitchen, scrambling to push down a very sudden and unpleasant swell of emotion. 

He very nearly missed Dean grinning at him. 

Lucifer glared at his brother, as much threat and mistrust in that glance as he could manage before setting the boxes on the counter and pulling out plates. “How, um, how is Sam doing?”

Dean chuckled, a pleasant warm sound, before leaning out the front door and calling, “Hey, Sammy, get your gangly ass in here already.  _ Luci _ wants to know how you’re doing.”

To his credit, Lucifer did not break the plates. He did drop them onto the counter, but only from a few inches away, so it was only a bad noise but no damage. He looked frantically at his brother, chest tight, because no one had mentioned Sam in this house for months and this wasn’t fair to spring on him like this. 

“Dean is Sam’s older brother,” Michael whispered. “He’s just a tasty extra bit of eye candy for a few days. You don’t get to keep him.”

“ _ What _ ?” Lucifer hissed back.

He didn’t get an answer other than Michael grinning at him and Sam walking in the front door.

It had been months.

Months.

That was a lot of time for Lucifer to get over the little crush that he’d had on his brother’s boyfriend. And he’d assumed that he had. It was easy to push aside feelings for someone you didn’t have any contact with. But, it all came as a rude awakening for Lucifer to realise that those feelings weren't gone. They’d merely been dormant, and all it took was seeing one of Sam’s hesitant, dimpled smiles, for Lucifer’s insides to turn to knots. 

“Lu, we didn’t know you’d be home today,” Sam was the first one to sound happy about this surprise, even though he wasn’t making eye contact between the front door and the kitchen, his face half hidden in the long mess that his hair had become over the summer. 

If his heart hadn’t been in his throat, then Lucifer might have been able to say something in answer. At best he thought he might have managed a half panicked smile.

“And going by that look you’re giving me, you didn’t know I’d be here either,” Sam bit off a brittle laugh, looking accusingly at Mike. Beautiful, smart boy that he was, putting together this nasty little trick in seconds when Lucifer was still miserably struggling to get a handle on the situation. “You didn’t tell him I was moving in, did you, Mike?”

“Not exactly,” Michael breezily waved it off. “But you guys got along great while you and I were dating. I know it’ll work out just fine. You guys’ll be perfect roommates.”

Lucifer didn’t deliberately leave the kitchen. He’d been holding the counter one moment, and then suddenly he was noticing that he’d managed to walk himself halfway to the front door. If there weren't spectators, he might have weakly said hello and smiled. But he had to not be a complete idiot in front of his brother. So, with a tremendous display of self control, he nodded to his friend that he hadn’t seen in months and calmly said, “I think you got taller.”

Sam laughed, glancing down at his feet before turning that stunning smile back to Lucifer. “Yeah. It pisses Dean off too.”

“You’re too damn tall, Sammy and it’s not ok,” Dean announced as he walked into the kitchen and started to dish himself out some lunch. 

His smile fading, but his eyes still bright, Sam hesitantly asked in a much softer voice, a question just between the two of them, “You gonna’ be ok with this, Lu? I know things were… awkward last time I was here.”

Lucifer shrugged, because of course it was ok. They were friends, and Sam made him coffee in the morning, so they could  _ find  _ a way to make this work. Apparently his shrug was given with arms open too wide, and it must have looked like an offer of a hug to the other man, because Sam was grinning again, chuckling as he pulled his arms around Lucifer.

Nothing at all could have stopped Lucifer from hugging back, hiding the undoubtedly shocked and confused expression he wore by pressing his face into the other man’s shoulder. 

Sam pulled away first, slapping Lucifer’s back and grinning. “No offence, man, but you smell awful.”

“Yeah well, I’ve been in the woods for a week,” that frantic but happy nervous feeling making his laughter tight. He squeezed his friend’s shoulders before letting go. “I’m… I’m gonna go get a shower. Save me some lunch?”

Lucifer ignored the way that Michael grinned at him as he walked past. Throwing his stuff into his room and putting his phone on its charger, he noticed he’d received a reply to the text he’d sent when he first got home. Grinning happily, he started digging around for something clean to wear. Moving through a happy haze, Lucifer almost made it all the way to the bathroom before one small nagging fact snuck up on him. 

Leaving his clothes on the counter, he quickly found his brother, grabbing Mike by the collar of his shirt and pulling him away from the other two men.

“Oh, you’ve got that murdery look,” Michael laughed nervously. 

“What are you doing?” He demanded quietly. “This is the bad kind of surprise, Mike.”

“Really? You looked pretty happy about it a few seconds ago.”

“You’re trying to set us up.”

“Wow, it really took you that long to figure it out?” His brother laughed, “And here I thought it was pretty damn obvious.”

“I’m  _ dating _ someone,” he said through gritted teeth.

“Oh?” Mike looked surprised and actually happy. “I had no idea. That’s wonderful. Why don’t you ever tell me anything?”

“Because the last time I told you I liked someone, you magically tracked him down, dated him, fucked him, broke up with him, and made him leave the state.”

Mike squared his shoulders, smile fading behind an annoyingly superior expression. “That was a total accident and you know it.”

Lucifer ran his hands over his face, all his thoughts a frantic jumble. 

“ _ Sooo _ ,” his brother started to smile again. “Boy or girl? And is it getting serious? I need details.”

“Oh, go fuck yourself, Mike.” Lucifer gave up. He couldn’t do this right now. He needed to get a shower.

Annoyingly, his big brother followed him into the bathroom. “Come on. Sam doesn’t know you used to have a big old crush on him. He’d still be a great roommate.”

“Yeah,” he hated to admit it. “I’m sure he’ll pay his half of the rent on time and clean up after himself and all that.” But Lucifer was more than aware of the fact that Sam would also walk around the house without a shirt on sometimes, and he’d smile, and be charming, and sit on the edge of Luci’s bed to help him with his homework―and those were not the sorts of temptations that Lucifer wanted while in a relationship with someone else. 

Not that it was even a serious relationship he had going on. But it was still a relationship, and he wasn’t going to dump his boyfriend just because he got himself a new roommate. That wasn’t the sort of person that Lucifer was. 

“Then what are you so pissed off about?” Mike asked.

“I just don’t like to be surprised,” Lucifer shoved his brother out of the bathroom, closing and locking the door for a bit of privacy. 

It was an angry shower. The sort of shower where you do more thinking than washing, only to get out and realise there’s still soap in your hair, which meant that Lucifer had to get back in the shower, cursing himself and his stupid brother, and pretty much everyone and thing he could think of. He felt like an ungrateful jerk for not letting himself be happy to have his friend back in his life.

Could their timing be any worse though?

The fact that there was a plate of untouched food set out on the table for Lucifer did nothing to make him feel better about any of this. The rest of the men were sitting around, chatting easily, and after everything that had happened, Lucifer found it almost offensive that Sam and Mike could be laughing and joking so comfortably together. Naturally, Sam had to be one of those kind and forgiving people, because of course he was. 

“Hey,” Lucifer said loud enough to get the other men’s attention, “I forgot that I had lunch plans, but I’ll be back later… to help move stuff or whatever.”

Mike narrowed his eyes, Dean looked disinterested, but Sam… Sam actually looked a little disappointed. 

Grinning through his own discomfort at the scrutiny, Lucifer nodded to his friend. “I’ll swing by the store on the way back, pick up some stuff to make dinner for you and me if you like. Sort of a welcome home for both of us.”

“Just you and me?” Sam smiled back, raising his eyebrows.

“Well, Mike’s moving out, so he can fuck off. And your brother…” Lucifer glanced at the extra person.

Dean leaned back in his seat, folding his hands over his stomach. “His brother is staying for a few days before driving himself back to Kansas. I’m a steak and potatoes kind of guy, if I get to vote on what we’re eating.” 

“If you tell me you also like beer, and are morally against salad, then we’re gonna have to send Sam back to Kansas and you can be my new roommate instead.” He offered, inwardly starting to relax at the idea that he’d have a chaperone for the first few days ‘alone’ with Sam. That actually might help give him time to adjust to his new and terrible living situation. 

Sam looked pained, while Michael leaned over and asked if the younger man was going to be ok left alone with Dean and Lu. 

“Yeah,” Sam shook his head. “I’ll be ok babysitting these two idjits.”

Lucifer grinned, actually enjoying the name-calling because it meant that despite everything that had gone sideways between them, Sam and he were probably going to be ok.

**.:.**

He made it back home a few hours later with a bag of groceries and a slightly guilty feeling that helped to take the bounce from his step. He hated feeling anything other than happy and satisfied after having some easy and slow ‘welcome home’ sex with his boyfriend. Lucifer didn’t owe his brother anything, and he owed Sam even less than that. They were friends who hadn’t seen one another in months, and Lu was allowed to date.

At least that’s what he had to remind himself.

Which was hard to do when Sam was greeting him at the door to his own house, pulling the door open before Lucifer could even get his keys in the lock. 

“Sorry,” Sam grinned, “didn’t mean to scare you. I was just getting up to get a drink and heard your truck.”

Lucifer felt himself grin back in answer, he couldn’t help it.

Sam took the groceries from him, heading into the kitchen and giving Lu some space to put away his keys and kick off his shoes. 

“You guys get Mike all moved out?” He asked, doing his best not to watch Sam walking away. 

“I think so.” Sam started putting away the groceries just like he used to back when he was dating Lu’s brother and practically lived here with them. He knew where everything went and there was something very disarming to that familiarity. “There was some stuff he left behind and had me put in your room. Said you’d want them.”

“Stuff?” Lu bypassed the kitchen and went straight to his bedroom, expecting the worst. What he found piled on the bed was a collection of clothes that he hadn’t been able to find in years, a worn acoustic guitar, headphones he thought he’d misplaced, his favorite winter blanket, and a box of condoms that he was sure he hadn’t left on his pillow. 

Even though his room was usually in a controlled state of chaos, and really a few extra things on his bed to go along with the pile of clean clothes that he’d meant to put away before going camping didn’t actually make his room that much more of a mess, he felt a need to clean up.

He’d nearly managed to get all his clothes folded and crammed into his dresser by the time he was hearing arguing from the other room. 

Seeing as it was hardly fair for people to have a fight in his house if he wasn’t invited, Lucifer casually propped his door open and leaned out to listen.

“I can’t believe I’m even having to say this, Sammy, but waffles aren’t dinner.”

To which Sam countered back, “Well, he likes them, so that’s what I’m making.”

“He came home with groceries for a  _ real _ dinner,” Dean argued. “There’s steaks in the fridge.”

“I’ve never heard you turn down waffles in your life, so either help or shut up.”

Lucifer’s cheeks hurt from how hard he was smiling. It was the sweetest offer he’d had in a long time and he was willing to sacrifice his previous dinner plans if Sam wanted to make him waffles. 

He slipped out of his room and went to sit at the table, watching the two brothers making a mess of his kitchen. “Am I allowed to help?” He offered as Sam pulled the eggs out of the fridge.

“No,” the younger man said firmly. “You cooked for me all the time. If I’m officially living here I’m pulling my own weight.”

Dean threw his hands up, “If he doesn’t have to help I don’t have to.” And he sat himself down at the table, easily rocking the chair back on two legs.

Lucifer had never been a fan of small talk, but he also knew that he probably shouldn’t go help Sam cook if they had an audience. He was too likely to do something stupid, and even if Sam didn’t ever seem to notice, Sam’s brother migth be a little more observant. So he tipped his own chair back, knees balancing him against the edge of the table. 

“So―” and that was all that he had to say, feeling his mind go blank.

“Right?” Dean answered back with a smile. “Look at him. He’ll sure make some lucky someone a tall and ugly wife one day.”

Lucifer snorted.

Sam shot them both a look before cautiously returning to the daunting task of cracking eggs. 

“I don’t know,” Lucifer dragged the words out thoughtfully, “he’s not much to look at right now, but with a little hair cut, some clothes not covered in flour… he could clean up ok.”

“Seriously though,” Dean gestured with a wide arm at his younger brother. “I’ve been begging him to cut it all summer. He looks like a goddamned sheep dog.”

In truth, Lucifer thought that Sam’s hair looked perfect. Perfect to tuck behind his ears, or for Lucifer to tangle his fingers in, or to pull back while he kissed Sam’s throat. 

“A trim wouldn’t hurt,” Lucifer agreed with a nod.

Sam didn’t even turn to look at them this time, only stirring and saying, “I don’t remember asking either of you for an opinion.” 

Sam was cute when he was irritated. Lucifer had almost forgotten about that. 

He didn’t even notice that he’d been staring at the other man until Dean softly cleared his throat. Body going tight with the inescapable feeling of being caught, Lucifer glanced at the man sitting beside him. 

“So,” Dean forced the single word through an uncomfortably knowing smile, “what do you guys do for fun out here?”

Like a deer in headlights, Lucifer stared back at Dean’s accusation of a grin.

“Haven't had a chance to see the sights. We only got in yesterday, and then it was all moving your brother’s stuff out, and getting Sammy’s things from storage,” Dean continued on so casually, but his eyes were darting between Lucifer and Sam, one eyebrow raised like a question. 

Shrugging and clearing his throat, Lucifer played with a hole in the knee of his jeans.

“Mostly we just did homework,” Sam supplied the most innocent answer, peacefully oblivious. “I don’t think I did any sight seeing in the whole year I was out here.”

“Oh no.” Dean’s grin wavered, “You’re a book nerd too?”

The cringe he felt was almost welcome at this point, something else to focus on. “Yeah. Mostly Sam and me did a lot of math together.”

“No. Don’t say that,” Dean let his chair legs all hit the floor. “And here I thought you looked like a nice, shifty guy. I was hoping we could all go out drinking and get into trouble together.”

“Your brother shouldn’t be allowed to drink.”

“Yeah, I heard about that,” Dean scratched his cheek, looking back at his brother. “He wasn’t  _ that _ bad, was he?”

“I almost wanna lie, just to make you feel better about your brother,” Lucifer shook his head, “but he’s a sloppy drunk.”

“Ah, he’s young though. We’ll work on it. Won’t we, Sammy?”

“I don’t ever want to drink again,” Sam said carefully, pouring batter into the hot waffle iron and closing the lid. Anything else he might have said was forgotten as excess batter oozed out the sides of the iron and all over the counter. Eyes gone wide with panic, Sam rushed to get paper towels to clean the mess.

Lucifer rose from his chair, “Hey, it’s fine. Just leave it.”

Sam was grumbling, carefully wiping the cooking batter spill of the metal sides of the griddle. He obviously hadn’t had all that much practice at this aside from the one time they’d cooked together, otherwise he’d have known better than to get his fingers so close to something so hot. 

Worried for his friend’s fingers, Lucifer leaned over and tried to nudge the iron’s handle and push the whole thing to a safer distance. All good intentions aside, what he ended up actually doing was flattening his fingers against the hot sides of the waffle maker. 

The younger man jumped into action before Lucifer had enough time for the pain to get from his hand to his brain. Sam pulled him to the sink, swearing as he went, turning on the faucet. “Here, run it under cold water, I’ll get some aloe,” he said in a rush before darting away.

Wincing, Lucifer kept his palm under the rush of cold water. He grit his teeth, toes curling as he waited for Sam to come back into the kitchen. 

“Shit, dude,” Dean helpfully added to the rushing sound of water, still sitting in his chair. “You ok?”

“I’m not going to lose the fingers, if that’s what you’re asking,” he grunted, turing his reddened fingers side to side under the flow of water.

He’d never seen Sam so worried, his brow pinched as he returned and pulled Lucifer’s hand from under the water to gently dab at it with a dishtowel. 

The pain had started to settle in, radiant heat pulsing along his finger tips. Lucifer felt like a complete idiot. “I can’t believe I just did that.”

“Don’t,” Sam shushed, pouring a small amount of aloe cream from the bottle he’d found, carefully smoothing it over the very red skin of the hand he was holding. “This sort of thing happens to me all the time. Pans can get real hot.”

“Thankfully it’s now got a protective coating of skin on it. So it should be safe for you to use.”

Sam glanced up, one side of his mouth curled in amusement. He shook his head, turning back to his doctoring. “Just give the aloe a bit to absorb in.”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” Lucifer eased, warmed at how Sam was obviously the most concerned person in the room. A little burn like this would hurt for a few hours at most, but he’d have completely forgotten about it by tomorrow. 

Not Sam though. Sam was cradling Lucifer’s hand between his like he was something fragile, tracing his fingers in slow circles through the aloe, making sure that he got every last trace of the burn covered.

“It’s feeling better already,” Lucifer mumbled, starting to feel self conscious as the tender care continued. He couldn’t see the other man’s face past the spill of dark hair and the way he kept his head bowed over the injury. “Thanks Sam,” Lucifer cleared his throat.

Sam said nothing, not in answer and not in his own defence. Tracing slow patterns over Lucifer’s palm like he was writing a declaration.

“Thank you, Sam.”

“R-right,” he let go, smiling tensely at Lucifer. “Sorry. I’m not used to you getting hurt.”

“Stick around a while,” Lucifer curled and uncurled his fingers before deciding they were fine. “Injuries are my specialty.” 

“What happened to your hand?” Sam asked, apparently not enjoying the joke.

“You were literally right there when it happened,” Lucifer used his not sticky hand to pull down some plates.

“No,” Sam caught his wrist gently, holding Lucifer’s hand up for his own inspection. “What happened?”

Lucifer looked at the little, still pink scars over the back of his hand. “I, um... I broke my hand a few months back. The hospital had to put a couple pins or something in it, but it’s fine now.”

“I got an engine dropped on my hand once,” Dean piped up, catching the other men’s attention, “hurt like a real son of a bitch. Really sucks to lose a hand for a few weeks while it’s healing too.” 

Lucifer nodded, wanting to feel happy that he had an injury in common with this man, but also very uncomfortable over the fact that Dean had been sitting at the table watching the two of them being idiots in the kitchen. An audience to his fawning over Sam had actually been something that Lucifer had been hoping to avoid. 

“That waffle is gonna burn if you don’t take it out,” he nodded to Sam and sat back down at the table like he could pretend that none of that had just happened. 

To his relief, they very nearly managed to do that. Sam making dinner while casting repeatedly worried looks towards the table, and Dean holding up his own hand and explaining in very graphic detail how badly he’d hurt himself. It was a nice distraction from the awkwardness in the kitchen, and Dean insisting that alcohol went perfect with waffles was an even better distraction. 

Drinking was like that. Not always a good choice, but usually a very good distraction.

Dishes were left for tomorrow, and the three of them settled in on the limited seating that the front room had to offer. Apparently Dean also enjoyed old horror movies (which was one more point in the man’s favor), and so much to Sam’s protests, they put on a slasher flick and invented a drinking game that rapidly got out of hand. Maybe it was a poor choice to drink every time the music got spooky, or someone got stabbed. It was difficult to say through the very pleasing haze of liquor. 

All Lucifer knew was that he found his limit before the credits rolled. He proclaimed Dean the undisputed winner, patted Sam on the head, and took himself to his room to crawl into bed and sleep like a rock.

He woke in the early afternoon with a pounding headache that didn’t seem nearly as important as the young man beside him who had stolen his pillow.

Sam was still fast asleep, hugging the pillow to his face like he was hiding from the daylight coming in around the curtains. He was also shirtless, and Lucifer didn’t manage to do much more than sit up to his elbows and blink vacantly at the man beside him. 

Unsteadily, he reached up to the windowsill where he’d left his phone the night before. He took a quick picture and sent a worried text to June. 

**Help. wtf do i do? I can’t get up without waking him**

His friend texted back a very unhelpful:  **that doesn’t look like Cas’s ass**

Lucifer wasn’t sure what to say to that. She  _ was  _ right. The curve of his boyfriend’s ass and Sam’s were notably different―but that was a fun fact that in no way helped him in his current predicament. 

**Its sam. WHAT DO I DO?** He texted back furiously, holding his breath as the man beside him stirred and rolled onto his back, pulling the pillow with him. It did not improve Lucifer’s view and he hit ‘send’ and waited with his heart in his throat.

**Fuck yeah luci get him**

He read and reread the words and wanted to strangle his phone. The only people he knew who ever woke up beside men they didn’t remember going to bed with were June and Mike, and he wasn’t about to text his brother.

“What time is it?” Sam asked, voice muffled by his pillow.

“Almost noon,” Lucifer managed to force out, eyes lingering on the deep v of the other man’s hips that dipped below the line of his pajama pants. 

Sam mumbled something that sounded almost like profanity before hitching up one edge of the pillow to squint out into the bright room. “I know it’s been a few days but I’m not adjusting well to this time difference.”

It was so damn casual, like he wasn’t half naked in Lucifer’s bed, like this was all perfectly normal and fine. And it wasn’t. I hadn’t been ok for them to do this months ago when Sam was seeing his brother, and it wasn’t any more ok for them to be doing it now. 

“I’m dating someone,” Lucifer blurted out.

Sam blinked up at him. 

“We’ve only been going out a month or so, and he’s a very understanding guy, but he’s going to have a hard time getting that this kind of thing between us isn’t flirting.”

Sam dropped the edge of his pillow, words muffled, “Course it’s not  _ flirting _ . It’s just sleeping.”

“I know that.” Lucifer pinched the bridge of his nose, fighting back the almost overwhelming headache.

“Dean was snoring last night. I woke you up and asked if I could sleep in here with you. You said it was fine.”

Through Lucifer’s haze of a hangover, Sam’s words did ring familiar. There were foggy memories of how very natural and obvious it felt to make space beside himself for the other man before mumbling a goodnight and sinking back into sleep. 

“It  _ is _ fine. I…” he hated how the lie tasted, because this was very much not fine, but for reasons he’d have a hard time explaining. He ground his teeth, struggling for the right thing to say and settling on, “I missed you, and it’s great to have you back here. But like I said, my boyfriend might have a hard time feeling as fine about you and me spooning.”

“No. I get it. Don’t want to get you in trouble.” Sam sat up very suddenly, the pillow falling into his lap, his hair a mess. “Dean’s only here a few more days. If he’s snoring again I’ll just sleep on the loveseat.” 

“Don’t be a dumb ass,” he knocked his cell phone against the other man’s leg. “If your brother’s snoring, make him sleep on the tiny couch.”

Sam cracked a half of a smile. “Yeah, wish me luck with that. Dean doesn’t move once he passes out.”

“Then wake me up for reals, and kick me out. I’ll sleep on the couch. You’re the tallest one here, you need a real bed or you’ll mess up your back.”

“Ok, but you’re as tall as I am and that couch is basically a wide chair.”

“Then  _ I’ll _ go sleep with your snoring brother.”

Sam chuckled softly. “And how does that fix any of our problems?”

Lucifer realised he’d talked himself in a very stupid little circle, and hung his head. “I’ve got a hangover, cut me some slack.”

“Just this once,” Sam promised, handing over the pillow getting off the bed. 

Sam left the room, and left Lucifer sitting there in a puddle of blankets and self doubt. 

He’d hated having to explain to Sam that there needed to be some boundaries between them, especially because that line was being drawn on the wrong side of things that they’d been doing since they met. He’d just told his friend that he didn’t want to be _that_ _close_ of friends, and even if it had needed to be done for a good reason it sure didn’t feel good.

Before those unpleasant thoughts had a chance to grow roots though, Sam was coming back into the room with a tall glass of water and a bottle of pills. He handed them over with a smile and sat himself down on Lucifer’s desk chair. All that empty space between them felt almost natural. 

Almost. 

Lucifer smiled back, swallowed the painkillers before curling around his glass of water, sipping on it slowly. 

“So,” Sam poked at the clutter on the desk beside him, “when you’re feeling a bit better, can you teach me how to make omelets?”

It was an odd request, but one that Lucifer couldn’t possibly turn down.

  
  



	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As a teacher I can tell you I am both excited and horrified that school in my area is now canceled due to virus concerns... but it means that over the next month I've got a whole lot of time to write and paint? Trying to be optimistic here.
> 
> Things are just chalk full of manic panic everywhere, so please, be gentle with yourselves, stay safe, stay hydrated, wash your damn hands, try and get as much sleep as your body needs, and enjoy a chapter that ends in the littlest, tiniest of uncalled for smooches.
> 
> All the (germ free) love, from this internet weirdo to you, you internet weirdo <3

Sam scrubbed at the dried waffle batter on the counter, frowning, not sure why he’d agreed to clean the counters when Lucifer had called dibs on the dishes. One of these jobs was obviously worse than the other. 

Putting what felt like his whole weight against Sam’s shoulder, Lucifer leaned on him. “I’ve got to head to work,” he said almost too happily.

“Yeah, yeah,” Sam grumbled, trying to hide a smile. That warm physical presence at his back made him far happier than it should, and he hated that he felt a need to hide his enjoyment. But after this morning’s little talk he was worried that the other man might dub this ‘too close to flirting’ and stop it.

“Did Mike get you a spare key yet?” Lucifer reached around Sam and dug at the dried batter with his thumbnail.

“Nope,” Sam popped the p sound and stayed focused on his scrubbing as much as he was able. There was a small tickle starting at the base of Sam’s spine, brought on by the awful combination of the half hug and the way that his friend’s breath tickled along his neck. 

“Alright. I’ll leave my house key for you in case you’re going out today. We’ll get a copy made for you tomorrow.” He straightened, patting Sam’s ribs in something almost like a hug before leaving the kitchen.

Sam let out a long, slow breath, shaking his head and scrubbing angrily at the counter. 

He fully understood that sharing a bed with someone you weren’t dating could be against the rules―but apparently cuddling in the kitchen wasn’t? Maybe there were just nuances that Sam hadn’t figured out yet. Seeing as Lucifer had always been the kind of person to ignore personal space, maybe the line in the sand wasn’t necessarily going to be very clear. 

“Have a good day at work,” he called out as his friend waved on his way out the door.

“Don’t burn the house down while I’m gone,” Lucifer called back.

Sam chuckled and shook his head and tried to get the stubborn counter clean. 

However long it took him to scrub the batter away, that’s how long Sam spent standing in the middle of the kitchen reminding himself that he came back to California for school, and he was living here instead of the dorms because it was more space, cheaper, and with a friend. He was not here because he’d been hoping to maybe be more than just friends with his ex-boyfriend’s brother. The little crush he had on Lucifer was old news and something that Sam needed to get over already.

“You alright there, Sammy?” Dean asked with a laugh.

Startled, Sam looked over to see his brother bleary eyed and smiling at him. “I-I’m fine,” he said quickly.

“You’ve been standing there staring at your hands for like five minutes, dude.”

Sam tossed the sponge into the sink and rinsed his hands. “I was just cleaning up. There should still be some coffee in the pot if you want some.”

His big brother chuckled and made himself a strong cup of coffee, moving around the kitchen like it was his own. 

“Anything you wanna do today?” Sam asked as a distraction.

Dean leaned against the counter, sipping noisily on his breakfast and smiling.

“We could,” Sam struggled to think of something that might interest his brother, “check out this classic car museum, go to the beach―”

“Talk about you and your boyfriend?” Dean suggested.

“ _ Mike _ ?” Sam barked a short laugh. “I know you don’t like him, but there’s not much to talk about. We figured things out over the summer. We’re good.”

“Nah, man. I’m talking about the leggy blond you’ve been flirting with.”

“Flirting?” Sam laughed again, nerves making the sound a little too high. “No. No, me and Lu don’t flirt. We’re just friends.”

“First off, bull shit. Second, did you forget that you’ve already told me you’ve got it bad for him? You can’t kid a kidder, Sammy.”

“We’re  _ just  _ friends,” Sam repeated with a tight smile. “And I mean, yeah, I do like him... a bit. But it’s not like that.”

Dean raised one eyebrow, lowering his mug. “He _ is _ the same dude you tried to bone right after you caught your boyfriend cheating, right? I’m not confusing this cute blond guy you wanna get in bed for a different one?” 

Thankfully there was only one.

“Yeah,” he cleared his throat, “that’s Lu. And I know it might look like we’re flirting but that’s… that’s just how we act around each other. It’s super platonic.”

That got a deep belly laugh from Dean, so much he had to put his coffee down on the counter while he caught his breath. “Are you- are you fuckin’ serious?” he wheezed. “Dude looks at you like he wants to spread you on his toast. I know platonic, Sammy, and that sure as hell ain’t it.”

“It’s not like that,” Sam insisted, feeling heat creep up his neck at his brother’s choice of words. He felt very called out and very uncomfortable and couldn’t think of any better way to say it. “It’s not real flirting. We’re just friends.”

“Dude, I don’t know who you’re trying to convince, me or you.”

“He’s got a boyfriend.”

Dean stood a little straighter, cocking his head to one side. It took him what felt like forever before he finally picked back up his coffee and said, “ _ Ah _ .”

“Don’t… don’t just  _ ah _ at me and walk away,” Sam raised his voice, calling after his brother as Dean left the room to go sit on the couch. “You’re chronically bad at relationships, so don’t  _ ah _ like you understand everything.”

“It’s not complicated, Sammy.”

Sam folded his arms tightly, waiting for the sage-like explanation that he would get whether he wanted it or not. 

“You like him. He likes you.”

Sam sighed, refusing to even dignify that with a response.

Dean didn’t have anything to add though, enjoying his coffee, feet up on the furniture.

“And,” Sam prompted.

“What  _ and _ ?” Dean looked over. “That was the whole thing. Two idiots trapped in a circle of mutual liking and bad fucking timing. Maybe if you didn’t have your head so far up your own ass you’d realize it ain’t more complicated than that.” 

Irritated at his brother’s very wrong assessment of the whole situation, Sam went to his room to finish unpacking.

Of all the things they could have done, they ended up spending the day going to every thrift store in Stanford, looking for a couch that was under fifty bucks, and long enough that Sam could lay on it. With that hard to meet criteria and the fact that they bickered like a married couple the whole day, it was a small errand that took up all their time. 

By the time they got back to the house, Lucifer was home from work, his truck taking up most of the driveway. The bed of the truck was open and the man was reclining in the back, knees and legs dangling down as he texted on his phone.

Dean leaned out the window of the Impala, calling, “You parked like shit.”

Lucifer smiled, not looking up from his phone, but flipping Dean off.

Leaning over his brother, Sam called, “We found a real couch, but need the truck to go pick it up.”

His smile going crooked and confused, Lu looked up. “A  _ real _ couch? Instead of the fake one we’ve already got?”

Though there wouldn’t be much room between the two vehicles, Dean maneuvered his car into the driveway beside the old truck. “A couch big enough to have sex on, instead of that tiny ass loveseat you guys have. Now, take my brother and go pick it up. I’m going to order a pizza.”

Lucifer slid from the back of his truck with a shrug.

Sam had been assuming that the three of them would be all heading out together, and inwardly he questioned his brother’s motive, assuming they had little to do with pizza and a lot more to do with their day-long argument. But he got out of the car and walked around the hood to hop into the passenger’s side of the truck. 

“Were you sitting outside waiting for us?” Sam asked as the other man climbed in behind the wheel.

“Yeah. You’ve got my house key.”

“Oh!” Sam felt like an idiot. He opened his door, pulling the spare key from his pocket and calling to Dean before throwing the key at him.

It felt odd leaving his brother behind. Not that Sam  _ needed _ supervision, after all, by this point he was something of an expert at being alone with his friend. But it might have been nice to show Dean that all this close talking and casual touching was just what friends do and there was nothing interesting or exciting going on.

“Good day at work?” Sam asked, trying to focus on the evening commuter traffic instead of the man beside him. 

Lucifer snorted and shook his head. “Shitty day. Distract me. What did you boys get up to?”

“We looked for a couch.”

“All day?”

“All day,” Sam nodded.

“You’re giving me some pretty high expectations for this couch.”

“Please don’t do that,” Sam chuckled. “It’s comfortable but also really ugly.”

“How ugly?”

“Nothing you can’t fix by throwing a blanket over it.”

Lucifer put a hand to his heart, glancing over. “I never thought I’d hear those words.”

Not understanding, Sam shook his head, laughing. 

“No,” the other man insisted. “Mike’s always been how he is. Even when we were kids he’d make his bed every morning. No one told him to, he just did like the neat freak he is. He’d die before he let an ugly couch in his house. I just realised I finally get to live with someone who doesn’t have a stick up his ass. Oh my god, I’m so happy I could cry.”

“Save your tears until you see the couch.”

Lucifer laughed, right up until they made it back to the second hand door and he actually saw the burnt orange and army green floral couch. All humor left his face and he stood in shock for a long minute before finally asking in a defeated tone, “Why was this ever made?”

“Ok, but lay on it and close your eyes so you can’t see the pattern,” Sam urged. 

With a dubious look, his friend followed the instructions and a slow smile bloomed over his face. 

Sam stood in the back furniture section of the store watching his friend with a warm feeling pressing against his ribs. It was a helpless sort of emotion, but at the same time not terrible. 

“Alright, that’s enough falling in love with the couch. Let’s get it in the truck.”

Lucifer folded his arms behind his head, grinning up at Sam with one eye slitted open. “Or... you could join me.”

It was stupid teasing, wich was one of Sam’s favorite things. “Pretty sure they’d kick us out of the store for that―but I’m up for it if you are,” he said with a wink.

Hissing with laughter, he rolled off the couch, shaking his head. “No, no, no. I’ve got to remember never to play chicken with you, cause you just fucking go for it.”

“Well it’s easy to joke when you’re not expected to back it up,” Sam said mostly to himself as he walked to one end of the couch and waited for his friend to lift the other.

The couch was as long as it was ugly, and they barely managed to fit in the bed of the truck, but just like that, they were headed back home with a new couch in tow. 

Sam was feeling light and optimistic, because tonight Dean could sleep on the couch and things wouldn’t be weird between himself and his friend in the morning, or at least not any more weird than usual. 

The longer he thought of it though, the quicker that happy feeling ran from him until all Sam could manage was to hesitantly ask the man beside him, “Are… are we ok?”

Lucifer gave him a strange sideways look.

“I mean, you know, considering what happened last time we were in your truck together.” Sam watched the other man, waiting for an answer, and he could see the exact moment when Lucifer figured out what he was talking about. 

Eyes still fixed on the road ahead, Lucifer’s lips became a thin, tight line and he nodded slowly. “Not to make you feel bad, but you sort of hit like a girl, so those bruises on my shoulder healed up pretty quick.”

“You know that’s not what I’m talking about.”

Lucifer chewed on his lower lip before slowly nodding. “Yeah. I know.”

“Dean made a pretty big deal about it,” Sam shook his head, “but he can get pretty overdramatic.”

“You told your brother that we kissed?”

“Yeah?” Sam very suddenly had some second thoughts about this whole conversation. “Considering you’re laughing at me now, I guess that you didn’t tell your brother about it.”

Grinning, almost self consciously turning his face away even as he kept driving, Lucifer laughed. “Hell no, I didn’t tell him. It was none of his goddamn business.”

“I didn’t tell Mike about it either,” Sam admitted softly. He  _ had _ told Mike about the single kiss he’d stolen while Lucifer was sleeping―but as far as Sam was concerned he and Mike were no longer dating by the time he’d thrown himself at Lucifer, so that few minutes of stupidity was his alone to keep.

“What  _ did _ you tell Mike?” Lucifer asked, pulling into the driveway and turning to look at Sam. “Because he was all kinds of bent out of shape after that night at the restaurant, and then the next thing I know you’re suddenly back, and you two are talking like you used to and everything’s ok?”

“We had a lot of long phone calls over the summer.”

“Did he apologise his ass off?”

“Multiple times.”

“Good.” He nodded sharply, but a sudden thought seemed to occur to him and he cringed. “By apology you mean a real apology, right? Not like phone sex or something?”

Sam made a sound somewhere between horrified laughter and surprise. “Why is that where your mind goes?”

Lucifer sputtered, holding a hand out to Sam like the younger man was all the evidence needed.

“What? What is  _ this _ ?” Sam copied Lucifer, waving both hands with his palms up.

“This is me saying maybe you didn’t notice, but you’re not exactly bad to look at, paired with the fact that my brother’s obviously got some fidelity issues, and I don’t know what I’m saying so waving my hands is supposed to give me a few seconds to try and come up with something smarter sounding than the words currently coming out of my mouth.”

Sam tried to come up with some coherent answer to the nonsense being rambled in his direction, but all he managed to do was laugh.

“Oh, shut up,” Lucifer opened his door and got out. “Go get your brother so he can help us carry this couch inside.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Sam wiped an eye. “I’m going. I’m going.” He made it halfway to the house, before looking back and calling out, “We’re ok though, right, Lu?”

Lucifer stayed mostly hidden behind the truck and the couch, raising his voice in irritation, “Wouldn’t be willing to live with you if we weren't, Sammy.”

It ended up being a second night of horror movies and drinking after dinner―not that Sam was taking shots like the other two men. He was being moderately more responsible and sipping on a beer whenever his brother and his friend took a drink.

“You sure you’re going to be able to handle that bread water over there?” Dean dug at him for the tenth time in the last half hour. 

He grinned and shook the brown bottle in his brother’s direction. “I’ve got to go into work in the morning an’ pick up my schedule. I don’t want to do it with a hangover.”

“Maybe,” Dean ran his tongue over his teeth, his eyes bright, “ _ maybe, maybe _ , you just drink like a man tonight, stop bringing shame to our family name, and just go in to work tomorrow afternoon when your head’s clear.”

“Can’t. They switched some things around at the library, and it’s sort of a ‘welcome back from summer break’ orientation.”

“Lame!” Dean bit off the word with great feeling. 

“What  _ is _ your family name?” Lucifer asked softly. 

Sam had been doing what he felt was a very good job at watching the movie tonight instead of staring too long at the man sitting on his left. He glanced over though and felt that warm, familiar feeling bubbled up in his chest again.

Lucifer’s eyes were lidded and a sloppy smile was curling at the edge of his mouth. It was like when they were back in Tahoe months ago. The man was a happy and slightly confused drunk and it was far more charming than it had any right to be.

“I mean, I know it’s a gun?” Lucifer held both hands out like pistols as if to demonstrate. “But you only told me once, and I absolutely forgot, and it’s been like a year, and that’s sort of too long to know someone and then admit that you don’t know their name.”

Dean snorted. “Is he drinking something different than me? Cause if he is, I want in.”

Acting like he hadn’t actually been paying more attention to his friend than the movie, Sam ran a hand through his hair and shrugged. 

“Same stuff,” Luci said with a content sigh, sinking down even further into the cushions, head falling to one side as he looked past Sam to Dean on the far end of the sofa. “But you’re drinking from a glass like a pussy. You can’t measure good whisky with a shot glass. You gotta measure this shit with your heart.”

They could have been fighting words if Dean wasn’t in such an obviously good mood. Sam’s older brother made a softly offended sound that almost instantly devolved into incoherent giggling as he keeled sideways over the arm of the couch.

Embarrassed by his brother, for not the first time in his life, Sam rolled his eyes, looking over at Lucifer to ask, “Ok, but I wasn’t that bad when I was drunk, was I?”

“Oh good god, you’re  _ so _ much worse,” Lucifer’s eyes went round as he looked up at Sam. “With you it’s all ass grabbing and tongue kisses and I’ve got to scrape you off with a spatula.”

Dean laughed harder. 

Dean was not helping. 

Heat rose to Sam’s cheeks. “N-not both times I got really drunk,” he argued. “I was ok on New Year’s. Right? You  _ said _ I was ok, that I just talked a lot.”

Putting a hand over his mouth for a moment, Lucifer shook his head and whispered, “I lied.”

Mortified, Sam fixed his eyes on the TV screen and ran his hands through his hair. It was not a relief to discover that he’d been helplessly throwing himself at his friend since the night that they’d met. There was no comfort to realise that his attraction to the man beside him had not wavered in the whole year that they’d known one another. 

The only thing that did help was knowing that after all this time, despite Sam repeatedly making an ass of himself, Lucifer was still happy to be friends anyways. 

That slightly comforting thought got rattled loose as Lucifer suddenly stretched himself out, laying over Sam and Dean’s laps to use the far armrest as a pillow.

Laughter filled Dean’s protest. “Dude, I don’t know you well enough to be your bed.”

“Hello,” Lu said, holding his hand out to shake. “My name is Lucifer, but you can call me Luci. I’m a leo. I like breakfast foods for dinner, red wine, and brunettes.” 

“Dean,” Sam’s brother laughed, shaking Lucifer’s hand and introducing himself. “I’m an aquarius, I enjoy sunsets, long walks on the beach, and frisky women.” 

Sam had his friend’s mid section stretched over his lap, and no idea what to do with his arms. If he put them down he’d be resting them on Lucifer’s stomach and hips which would be awkward―and all of this was awkward enough on its own that he didn’t feel a need to add to it. So, Sam crossed his arms over his chest and felt more than a little lost.

“Lu,” he said in the most sober way he could manage, “come on, get up.”

“ _ You _ get up,” he countered. “I’m comfortable.”

Ignoring the fact that it would be almost impossible to easily extract himself out from under his friend, Sam didn’t actually want Lucifer to get up. 

“So,” Dean drawlled, “tell me about this son of a bitch I hear you’re dating instead of my brother.”

Horrified, Sam looked over at his brother, wishing that he’d never told him anything at all about what had been going on in his life since he’d left for college a year ago. 

“Cas?” Lucifer laughed, “He’s just Cas… I actually met him at the library when I went looking for Sam a few days after him and my brother broke up.”

“You guys serious?” Dean pressed, ignoring the way that Sam was elbowing him roughly.

Lucifer shrugged, half rolling onto his side to reach for where he’d left his drink.

Dean seemed to take the man’s lack of an answer as a way of saying he was still practically single, or at least that’s how Sam chose to interpret the way that his brother was elbowing him back and nodding in a drunkenly significant way. 

‘ _ Stop _ ’, Sam mouthed, not wanting whatever help Dean thought he was providing. He glanced down at the man laying over their laps and felt relieved that there didn’t seem to be any suspicion on the man’s face. Or really much of any feeling, as Lucifer had closed his eyes and seemed to be already half asleep.

“Lu, go to bed,” Sam pleaded, lightly shaking his friend. Again, not because this situation was uncomfortable. Sam just found himself increasingly worried what horrible thing his brother might ask next.

The not quite asleep man spoke without opening his eyes. “I’ve got to christen the couch.”

“No you don’t.” Sam wasn't sure what his friend had in mind, but he felt ‘no’ was going to be the right answer no matter what.

“Someone’s got to sleep here and break the couch in,” he explained.

“On the couch,” Sam pointed out, “not on my lap.”

“I thought I got to sleep on the couch,” Dean blinked at them both, soggy mind slowly playing catch up. “Wasn’t that why we got the damn thing in the first place? So I wouldn’t have to share the bed with your whiny ass?”

That had been the reason why they’d started couch hunting that morning, so that Dean could snore out on the couch and Sam wouldn’t have a good excuse to crawl into bed with Lucifer for a quiet night’s sleep. 

“As long as I don’t have to share with you I don’t care where everyone else sleep,” Sam grumbled.

Before Dean could argue, Lucifer sighed deeply and stretched his arms up over his head, loudly saying, “No.”

“No?” Sam looked down, only mostly distracted by the way his friend’s shirt had hitched up, showing the pastel colors of his tattoo and the curve of his hips. 

“No,” Lucifer repeated. “If he’s not in your room, that means he’s going to try to be in my room. No Deans allowed in my room.”

“Hey,” Dean managed to look offended, “I thought we bonded here.”

“Not enough to get you in my bed,” Lucifer opened his eyes, reached up and lightly booped Dean’s nose. “But I’m flattered.”

“Dude,” Dean laughed too loudly, rubbing at his nose. “Sam’s the one who likes leggy blondes, not me. You’re barking up the wrong Winchester.”

“ _ Winchester _ ,” Lucifer said slowly, smiling. “I  _ knew  _ it was a gun name.”

“I’m so glad you two are turning into the best of friends,” Sam sighed, “but I’d like to get up.” He’d also like to have his brother stop trying to throw Lucifer at him. They didn’t need a matchmaker. It wasn’t that kind of relationship, no matter how much Dean insisted that it should be.

Lucifer looked at Sam and held his arms out expectantly. “Carry me to bed?”

Sam snorted.

The man didn’t drop his arm.

“I like your optimism,” Sam pushed at his friend. “Up.”

Looking very disappointed Lucifer dropped his arms and rolled off the couch. He didn’t sit up, he rolled onto the floor and lay there looking up at the brothers still on the couch. “Mike would carry me to bed.”

“There’s no way,” Sam shook his head, carefully standing up and stepping over his pitiful looking and very drunk friend. 

“He at least was willing to  _ try _ ,” Lucifer argued, holding his arms up once more. 

Willing to meet the idiot half way, Sam took Lu’s hands and helped pull him to his feet. His breath caught in his throat as Lucifer came nose to nose with Sam before pulling him into a hug. He was warm and solid and smelled strongly of whisky, and none of that was bad.

“Come on, you clingy, drunk, mess.” Sam curled his fingers around the other man’s elbows, uncomfortably aware of the fact that Dean was only a few feet away, watching them. Pointedly not looking at his brother, Sam slowly dragged his friend down the hall, still trapped in a hug so that their walking felt more like a middle school slow dance than anything else. 

Once they got as far as Lucifer’s room, Sam tried to untangle himself from his friend, pointedly saying, “Goodnight.”

Lucifer grumbled a confusing complaint and loosened up, still holding Sam in the circle of his arms, but now with a little breathing room.

“Goodnight,” Sam repeated.

“You smell nice.”

A startled laugh blurted out of Sam.

“And I’m glad you came back,” Lucifer sighed softly, leaning in until their noses touched. “I missed you and your stupid, handsome face.”

Sam laughed again, but with as close as they were standing, his nerves made the sound come out like a nervous flutter.

“You smell nice.”

“You said that already,” Sam was having a very difficult time with this conversation.

“I’m not supposed to kiss you goodnight, am I?”

Of course he wasn’t supposed to.

If they weren't allowed to platonically sleep, fully clothed, in bed beside each other, then kissing was absolutely not on their approved interaction list.

Apparently Sam was taking too long in answering, either that or Lucifer just didn’t have much patience when he was so very obviously drunk.

Still not dropping his cuddly drunken hug, Lucifer pushed forward, mashing their noses together, and kissing Sam softly.

Sam had absolutely no idea where their friendship boundaries were supposed to be anymore, but more than that, for that single whiskey sweet kiss goodnight, he didn’t care. Boundaries were stupid and Lucifer had the best smile when he was drunk.

Wrinkling his nose and stepping clumsily back into his room, Lucifer waved goodnight.

Sam waved back, his heart hammering in his chest, and his lips still lingering with the taste of whisky.

Unsteadily, he returned to the front room, nodding to his brother. “Hey, um, I’m going to try to catch some sleep.”

Dean looked up from his shot glass, one eyebrow raised. “Yeah. Alright. You get your boyfriend to bed?”

Licking his lips, Sam nodded carefully.

His brother gave him a curious look that turned into a toothy smile, and Sam quickly went to his room before he could be asked any questions. 

  
  
  



	24. Chapter 24

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yooo  
alright, so oddly not as much free time to write as I'd anticipated a few weeks back, but that's not a bad thing I guess? I've become a part time mom to my little cousins while school is out but their parents still have full time work. Oddly writing stories about boys kissing isn't something I get to do while hanging out with a couple of 11 year olds who are always VERY interested in what I'm doing XD  
but yeah, hope you guys are ok?  
or at least as ok as anyone can manage to be in these weird and uncertain times.

Morning came too soon, especially considering that Sam didn’t get nearly as much sleep as he’d needed. Far too much of the night before had been spent laying in bed looking up at the ceiling while trying to keep his thoughts in order. 

Thankfully the other two men in the house were still fast asleep, so there was no one to stop Sam as he stole his brother’s car keys and drove to work. 

It was a very relaxed orientation, walking around the library so that the old employees and the new hires could get a refresher of the layout, ending in the breakroom with store-bought muffins and average coffee. Since it was the only breakfast that Sam had seen today, he didn’t pass up on the offer.

In light of how confusing and restless last night had been, Sam was grateful for the chance to turn off his rambling thoughts and simply make small talk with his coworkers. It was a nice break from everything, even though it didn’t last long, with most people not sticking around for more than a few minutes before making excuses and heading off to enjoy the rest of their day. 

Sam was tossing his coffee cup, halfway to the doors before someone he didn’t know stepped in front of him. It was one of the newer hires, an unfamiliar face like half of the people who’d come to the orientation. 

“Hi,” Sam smiled, thinking that this guy with his messy dark hair and bright blue eyes wasn’t bad to look at.

“You’re Sam, right?” The guy bypassed regular formalities, looking up at Sam with an intense expression. “I heard someone call you Sam earlier.”

“Alright,” he laughed, reevaluating that first impression. “Yeah. I’m Sam. And you are?”

“Castiel. I was the Sam replacement over the summer.”

“Oh,” Sam shook his head, chuckling. “I didn’t know I was so important they needed a replacement for me.”

“To the people you tutor I’m sure that you are invaluable.”

Sam didn’t tutor anyone, and he wondered if there was another Sam working in the library that he was being confused with. 

Castiel nodded towards the exit. “I was headed out, can we walk and talk? I feel like I need to apologise to you.”

“I think you might have me confused with someone else.”

“You used to help a man named Luci with his math last semester?”

Sam nodded slowly.

“Then I have the right Sam,” his smile was a happy little flicker. “I am sorry for stealing him from you. He came to the library one night, looking for you, wanting help with a summer class he was taking. It was a slow night so I offered to help him out, then I gave him my number if he needed any more help with his summer classes and things just went from there. ”

“That’s ok,” Sam shook his head, walking alongside the other man, an understanding starting to form. “You’re Cas, aren’t you?”

The man’s shoulders hitched up in an awkward but endearing little shrug. “He does like to call me Cas. Did he… did he tell you about me?”

“Just that you two were dating.”

The man chuckled in surprise, looking up at Sam. “We are?” 

It was an unexpected response and all Sam could do was shrug. “You’d know better than me.”

“I-I guess we are. I just hadn’t really thought about it like that. When we get together it’s always just for math and fooling around afterwards… though his summer classes  _ are _ done now and we’re still getting together. I suppose that could be considered dating, couldn’t it?”

Sam was not going to answer that question.

It was a stupid question.

A very stupid question that made Sam feel irrationally irritated for reasons he couldn’t understand, and he carried that irritation all the way back home with him. Knowing full well that both Lucifer and Dean were probably hungover and possibly still asleep, Sam slammed the front door. It was petty and misdirected, but seeing as he couldn’t name why he was looking for a fight, maybe there wasn’t any healthy direction for this feeling. 

Annoyingly, his brother and his friend were both awake, sitting on the couch, sipping coffee, and squinting blearily at the world around them. 

It ruined the effect that Sam was going for.

Dean winced. “Sammy, Christ, keep it down.”

Sam grumbled and tossed his brother’s keys onto the coffee table.

“Who pissed in your Cheerios?” Dean lowered his drink and blinked.

“It’s just… it’s a weird morning.” Sam chickened out. He wasn’t mad at his brother. He didn’t know who he  _ was  _ mad at, but it definitely wasn’t Dean for once. 

Before he had a chance to go hide himself in the kitchen or his room, Lucifer stuck out a leg and hooked a foot around the back of one of Sam’s knees. 

“Want to make it a whole weird day?” Lu offered.

Irritated at being stopped, Sam looked back at his friend, and found he had a hard time scowling at the other man. Pushing down that small bit of happiness, he rolled his eyes at Luci. “Way to make an offer both vaguely threatening and also somehow tempting.

“I’ve got to head up to San Francisco today. You’re both invited to come with if you like. You know, you two could do that sightseeing thing or whatever.”

“Really selling it there, Lu,” Sam felt himself smiling despite his best intentions. 

“Come on,” Dean chimed in, surprisingly. “You gotta say yes.”

“I do?” Along with everything else he was feeling, Sam was forced to acknowledge a sudden suspicion forcing its way in along with his brother’s insistence.

Dean scrubbed his hands over his face. “Yeah, otherwise it’s me walking around with this weirdo and people are gonna assume I’m with him or something.”

Feeling very much like he was being strong armed into this, but also unable to come up with a good reason to say no, Sam sighed and shrugged and asked whose car they’d be taking.

After a little bit of arguing it was decided that they’d take the Impala, but Sam would be driving. 

And when Sam tried to argue his way out of this plan, his older brother only slid into the backseat and pushed a pair of sunglasses into place. “Drive her like I taught you, Sammy,” he said, folding his arms over his chest and sinking down to a slump. “You hurt my baby and I hurt you.” 

“Yeah, yeah.” Sam begrudgingly got behind the wheel, not at all looking forward to a long drive on unfamiliar highways. 

He did have Lucifer sitting beside him to give him directions and to keep him company, which would have been a lot more pleasant if Sam wasn’t irritated at the man. Sam thought that he did a decent job of keeping his comments neutral, but apparently he wasn’t as good of an actor as he thought. 

“You weren't drinking with us last night,” Lucifer pointed out, looking out his window as they passed over a bridge, “but you’re sure in a mood today.”

Sam slowly ground his teeth. 

“Was your first day back at work that bad?”

“It wasn’t terrible,” Sam chose his words carefully, “I did get to meet my replacement though, so that was a thing.”

“Replacement?” Lucifer looked over. “Did they fire you or something?”

“No. The library is still fine and good. But apparently the guy I was tutoring in math found someone else to help him out while I was gone for the summer.” In Sam’s defence he wasn’t deliberately trying to be catty, he was just repeating the words that had been told to him that morning. 

“I didn’t know you were… oh.  _ Oh _ . You met Cas. Yeah. I had to come up with a good reason I was at the library asking for you, and it wasn’t a lie. You  _ were _ helping me with my math.”

Sam spared a flat look at the man beside him. 

“How would it sound to say, ‘hey, my brother used to date a guy who works here, but they broke up and now I haven't heard anything from him in a week.’ They’d think I was some kind of stalker, or looking to get into a fight with you.”

“So you lied to your boyfriend about how we knew each other,” Sam nodded in the most sarcastic way he could. “You couldn’t have just said we were friends?” 

Lucifer didn’t say anything right away, which bothered Sam more―because if this was Dean sulking beside him, silent, it would be because his big brother was coming up with a good lie. 

“Did you tell him we’re roommates, or would that be too weird since I’m just your old math tutor?” Sam kept going, filling the quiet with his irritation. 

“I fudged the truth a little, because at the time I was asking about you I wasn’t exactly sure if we still were friends,” Lucifer said very softly. “We’d sort of parted ways under questionable circumstances. I guess I figured that depending on how pissed you were, there was a chance you’d told your coworkers about what happened with Mike, and I might have been put on the same shit list. I was worried about you and didn’t want to get chased out of the library before I could find out how you were doing.”

Sam hated what a reasonable, and almost sweet excuse his friend had for lying. “Alright. Fine.”

“Fine?” Lucifer repeated like a question.

“It’s just weird to find out someone's lying about knowing me, ok?”

“I did tell him you moved in with me… if that helps at all. And I told him who you are, that you’re a friend of mine who used to date Mike.”

“Yeah?”

“Well, yeah. I’m dating the guy. Feels kind of important to tell him who I’m living with.”

Sam’s hands tightened around the steering wheel. “More or less important than telling the guy that you’re actually dating him? Because he seemed pretty surprised when I broke the news to him.”

Lucifer didn’t look embarrassed, or ashamed, or like he’d been caught, or whatever feeling it was that Sam expected to see when he glanced to the side. 

Instead, Lucifer laughed.

Pressing a hand to his eyes and shaking his head, Lucifer said, “Yeah, well that’s Cas. The first time I kissed him he stopped me and told me that the bit of cash I was giving him for help with my math was  _ only  _ for math and if I was expecting any ‘other services’ I would have to look elsewhere. It took me a while to convince him that I just thought he was cute, not some kind of nerdy prostitute. He’s… he’s an odd guy. But I like him.”

From the back seat, Dean called, “Can you girls keep it down? Trying to sleep over here.”

Sam flicked his eyes up to the rearview mirror to see that his brother hadn’t moved the whole drive, but behind his sunglasses he was glaring daggers at the back of Lucifer’s head.

It could have been nice to have an over protective big brother right then, but mostly it just rubbed Sam the wrong way. He didn’t need his brother to save him from unhappy conversations. Just because Dean knew that Sam had a tiny crush on the man in the passenger seat, didn’t mean that Dean needed to step in and interrupt them if the topic drifted to the fact that Lucifer was happily dating someone else. 

By the time they reached their destination, Sam had viciously decided to stop moping and actually be happy for his friend. 

For better or worse, Lucifer had been supportive of Sam dating Michael, and Sam could now return the favor and celebrate that his friend was happy. 

Happy was good.

Sam could focus on that. 

Or he could try to, until trying to parallel park on a steep incline demanded every bit of everything that Sam had. Dean wasn’t helping, hissing between his teeth and giving very conflicting directions from the back seat. It took Sam a shameful five tries to fit the Impala alongside the curb, and the moment he took the keys from the ignition Dean was lunging over the seat to take them from him.

“It’s ok, baby,” Dean whispered comfortingly, petting the upholstery. “I won’t let the son of a bitch drive you ever again. No. No I won’t.”

“Shut up, jerk,” Sam got out of the car, walking around the hood to stand on the sidewalk and stretch. They were in some kind of commercial district. Shops and restaurants crammed close together on both sides of the street. “So, I’ve never been up this way. What are we looking at? Lunch?”

Lucifer tipped a smile his way. “I love how you’re always hungry. Yeah, we can grab some food. I just wanna check in with June first.”

Considering that he’d thought this whole trip was for basically just for sightseeing, checking out Golden Gate park or Fisherman’s Wharf or whatever other sights tourists came to the bay area to see, the mention of also getting to say hi to Lucifer’s friend brought a grin to Sam’s face.

“Oh, are we meeting her somewhere?”

“I guess?” Lucifer’s smile was soft, and instead of immediately elaborating he took a moment to look at Sam with an emotion of his face very much like relief. 

“Super clear and not at all vague, Luci,” Dean called over the top of his precious car, patting the vehicle once more before joining them on the sidewalk. “Who’s June, and is she cute?”

Lucifer’s face went stony as he turned to look at Dean. “She’s my sister, and she’s not even remotely good looking. You’re welcome to just wait out here and spare your eyes.”

“Nah, man,” Dean chuckled. “I’ve seen your brother. Y’all got them good genetics. I promise to behave myself, though.” He drew an X over his heart, but his grin said that that promise didn’t mean much. 

Lucifer led them through a narrow alley between buildings, to a steep set of stairs that climbed the back of a building, to an third floor apartment situated over the shops below.

“Freaking crammed cities,” Dean was muttering under his breath. “People all living on top of eachother. Haven't seen a tree since we got over the bridge.”

“Had to get rid of the trees to make more room for buildings,” Lucifer offered as he knocked on the door painted with a very large number 3.

Dean continued to grumble right up until the door opened and June stood there in a thigh length t-shirt, blinking sleepily into the afternoon sun.

She didn’t tell them hello, instead she hid a yawn behind the back of her hand and sleepily said, “Shit, that was today, wasn’t it?”

“Should I have texted you a reminder?” Lucifer held an arm out to June and received a warm hug.

“Wouldn’t have made a difference, you know I keep my phone on silent.” She let go and turned her tight squeeze of a greeting on Sam.

Sam was overly aware how nervous his laughter was as he put one arm around the mostly naked woman. “Hey, June.”

“Hey, handsome. Are you taller than Luci now?”

“I, um, maybe?” He glanced over at his friend and thought that he might be, which was far more exciting to him than it should be. 

June laughed, releasing him to turn her attention to the man at the back of the group. She didn’t say anything to Dean, but offered a lingering smile before patting the center of Lucifer’s chest. “I’m going to get dressed. Go get me a coffee and I’ll meet you downstairs… you can leave the short one here with me if you like.”

“June. No,” Lucifer said very firmly.

“Hey,” Dean spoke up, “I don’t mind keeping the lady company.”

“This is my older brother, Dean,” Sam tried to explain like he hoped these facts might somehow magically discourage June’s grin. 

“Your  _ brother _ ? Oh well, if you’re Sam’s brother,” June wove past the two men she knew to give Dean a hug of his own. 

Leaving Sam to roll his eyes at the way his brother lit up and hugged back. 

“You’re still dating Gabriel, right, June?” Sam asked, more for Dean’s benefit than out of any actual curiosity. 

“Oh yeah,” she smiled, slipping by the men to go back inside. “He’s still sleeping, but I’ll see if I can wake him up and talk him into coming down to say hi.” She left them, closing the door but not before a reminder to Lu for how she liked her coffee.

As the three men walked down stairs, Dean elbowed Sam and quietly said, “I like her.”

Sam shook his head.

“I like any woman with the confidence to open her door without putting pants on first.”

Lucifer called back over his shoulder, “That confidence comes from the loaded handgun she keeps by the door and the fact that her dad’s a cop.”

Dean’s grin stayed very firmly in place. 

There was no help for it. 

Dean was the way that Dean always was, and Sam did his best to ignore it. 

They walked to get coffee, because according to Lucifer they’d be idiots to give up the parking spot they found. It was a nice enough day for a walk, clear skies, cool ocean breeze coming in off the bay, and twice Sam found himself on the verge of taking Lucifer’s hand.

It was a stupid thing. But if it had been Michael beside him, then they’d be holding hands, and the impulse was very much there even if this was the wrong person. 

So Sam kept his hands jammed into his pockets and his mouth shut, removing the stupid temptation. 

“So, is your sister coming with us to go sightseeing?” Dean asked, still not ready to let it go.

Lucifer shook his head. “No, she’s just doing some touch up to a tattoo of mine. It’ll take a little while. You guys are welcome to go on ahead.”

“We’ll stay,” Sam spoke up before his brother could. The obvious reason was because of friendship. That's just how it went. If a friend said they were going to go get poked repeatedly with needles and you offer to go with them. 

The less obvious reason for going was that Lucifer’s tattoos were over his hips, which meant that he’d have to undress slightly for June to do any work, and Sam was very interested in being present for that.

They met up with June about half an hour later, back at the downstairs of her apartment, which coincidentally was a tattoo parlor―something that Sam hadn’t really bothered to notice the first time around. 

Lucifer’s friend had pulled on a pair of ripped jeans and some flip flops, but otherwise she looked exactly the same as the last time they saw her; sleep rumpled and very tired. Taking the coffee they’d brought her, she pulled out a very full keyring and unlocked the door. 

The sign in the window stayed turned to ‘Close’, but June flipped on all the lights and turned on an antique stereo to fill the building with classical music. 

The shop was a lot to take in at first, art all over every inch of wall space, bright details and saturated colors every direction Sam looked. By the time he turned himself in a slow circle, he looked back at the others to see that Lucifer had seated himself on the edge of a padded table in the back, and June was setting up many tiny cups of colored ink. 

It wasn’t a large shop, but Sam felt like he could easily get lost. Hurrying over to stand beside his friend, he asked, “So.. what were you getting done?”

“She’s just going to touch up some of the colors,” Lucifer pulled up his shirt and pointed to some of the flowers around his ridiculous unicorn tattoo. “Here and here, and the pinks and yellows.”

“A lot of bright colors fade quick,” June explained, “and some people have stubborn skin that doesn't take certain colors well.”

Lucifer rolled his eyes.

Sam only just barely noticed the little sign of irritation, because honestly, he was having a hard time looking anywhere other than at his friend’s hips.

Someone elbowed him sharply in the back, and Sam turned, blinking at his brother. “What?”

“Dude, you’re drooling,” Dean whispered with a grin.

“Shut up,” Sam hissed, elbowing Dean back a little more roughly than needed, before looking around to make sure that no one had noticed the little exchange. 

Thankfully, June had kept on teasing Lucifer and they were currently sticking their tongues out at each other, paying zero attention to anyone else. 

“How long have you been tattooing?” Sam asked, pointedly looking at June and not the way that Lucifer hadn’t fixed his shirt yet.

She made one last face at her friend before turning to Sam and smiling. “I started back in high school. Ink and sewing needle, do it yourself, kind of stuff, real rough and cringy, but it’s been about five years.”

“Show him your first attempt,” Lucifer urged, pushing gently at June. 

With a grimace, she swung a leg up onto the table beside Lucifer and pulled up her pant leg to show a very faded set of interlocking hearts on the inside of her ankle.

“It’s… cute,” Sam tried to think of something nice to say.

“It’s a mess,” She put her leg down, “the one I did on Luci’s leg turned out a little bit better.”

The idea made Sam grin. “You guys have matching best friend prison style tattoos?”

June laughed. “What, you and your bestie don’t?”

Sam looked over at Dean and shook his head. “No, we don’t.”

June put a hand to her heart and turned from one brother to the other with a grin. “Aw, well we’re gonna fix that today.”

It took Sam’s brain a few seconds too long to realise he’d just been threatened with tattooing, and by the time he tried to protest, June had already turned to Lucifer and told him to take his stupid shirt off.

For the record, this wasn’t the first time that Sam had seen his friend stripped down―however the previous time had been in poor lighting and there had been some concern over a very injured leg, so it’s not like there had been all that much time to thoroughly appreciate the show. 

The moment was not comparable to watching Michael undress. 

Like apples and oranges.

Two very different things―even if they both made his mouth go dry in the same kind of way.

Lucifer pulled off his shirt, looked momentarily uncomfortable in Sam and Dean’s direction, before laying back on the table and holding his shirt to his chest with awkwardly folded hands.

“It’s a little weird to have people watching,” Lu commented softly to June.

She shrugged and pulled on a pair of gloves, sparing a wink in Dean’s direction before saying, “I don’t know. I sort of like having an audience.” 

To which Dean elbowed Sam again, and Sam was forced to step on his brother’s foot as a warning.

“June,” Lucifer sighed in annoyance, “stop with the flirting and get to the stabbing me with needles part.”

“You never let me have any fun,” she slapped his side and got to work.

Sam had mentally been struggling with the idea that he probably needed to find a nice distraction for himself, just any little thing at all that might be more socially acceptable to stare at other than his half naked friend. 

Instead he decided that watching a tattoo being done was a perfect excuse to stay right where he was.

Having never actually seen this done before, Sam very quickly realized it wasn’t at all how he imagined it.

“Is that blood?”

“It’s just extra ink.” June didn’t take her eyes off her work. 

“You squeamish, Sammy?” Lucifer asked in a slightly tight voice, obviously not enjoying the whole procedure, but also not in too much pain.

“No,” Sam said defensively as he crossed his arms over his chest. “It just looked like a lot of blood that she was casually wiping off your side,  _ Lu _ .”

“Aw,” his friend teased softly. “Are you worried? Hold my hand?” He asked, reaching out and wiggling his fingers.

If there weren't two other people there, Sam might have gone along with the teasing, happy to have a reason to do what he’d been wanting to do since they got out of the car.

Instead he lightly slapped his friend away before moving closer and leaning his hip against the side of the table, and casually brushed the knuckles of one hand along his Lucifer's shoulder in the most casual way he could manage. 

Dean was far more direct in his flirting, making small talk with June and asking her about work, and her own tattoos, and if she was free for dinner tonight. 

“Well, my boyfriend usually makes dinner,” June grinned while she worked, “but if you're as fluid with your sexuality as your brother, I can always text Gabe and see if he wouldn't mind you joining us tonight."

Dean chucked nervously, and Sam thought how strange it was to hear uncertainty in his brother's tone when on the subject of sex. But more importantly― 

"Why am I being dragged into this? And also, excuse me?"

June looked up at Sam through the curtain of her hair. "We all know you got to touch some boobies this summer."

Sam felt his face grow hot and he looked accusingly at Lucifer.

"We don't  _ all _ know. This is my first time hearing about it." Lu held his hands up defensively. "But also congrats? I think you get a merit badge or something if it was under the shirt."

Too embarrassed to say anything, Sam clenched his jaw and folded his arms. 

With a toothy grin, June explained, "Gabriel told me about it."

"How did  _ he _ know?" Sam hadn’t spoken to Gabriel since their trip to Tahoe months ago.

"You told Mike," she shrugged, "that's as good as putting it on a billboard."

"Great." Sam made a mental note to never tell his ex anything embarrassing ever again. 

"Mike and Gabe always over share," June shook her head. "I think I had a picture of Luci's broken hand before he was even released from the hospital."

Lucifer closed his eyes, hugging his shirt to his bare chest. "That was great. I loved getting worried phone calls from you and my parents before I even got my stitches done."

"It  _ was _ great," June laughed. "It's my favorite picture of my boys. I got that shit printed and framed." She nodded back over her shoulder at the wall over her work space. 

Even though Lu grabbed at him, Sam sidestepped and went to the wall. Among the overwhelming amount of drawings were a scattering of photos. Sure enough, the only one in a frame was of the twins in a hospital room. Michael was grinning, his nose purple and red, crooked and broken, the bruising reaching up to his right eye. Sitting beside him, looking seconds away from murder, was Lucifer, flipping off the camera as best he could with half his hand in a splint.

"Oh my god," Sam turned back to his friend. "What happened?"

June giggled, turning in her chair to face Sam. "He didn't tell you all about it?"

"June, shut up," Lucifer hissed before looking up at Sam and firmly saying, "She's lying."

Considering the woman hadn't said anything yet, Sam was slightly suspicious of the claim. 

"He broke his hand punching Mike's face," June grinned. 

Worry made Sam's throat tight and his mouth dry. 

"I did not," Lucifer bit off.

June didn't seem interested in arguing about this. She held up the tattoo gun like a threat pointed at Lucifer and asked, "Who's got the needle here? Me? Yeah. So shut up while I'm telling the story."

"I didn't," Lucifer insisted.

June ignored the protests. "Did you break his nose though?"

Through clenched teeth, Lucifer grunted a yes.

"And did you break your hand the same night?"

There was no fight in Lucifer. Only a tight jaw and quiet irritation.

With the accompanying buzz of the tattoo gun, June continued, "You jackasses ended up in the same ER on the same night, and I'm sure none of the nurses believed either of you two idiots."

"You broke his nose?" Sam finally asked, trying not to sound too accusing. 

Lucifer nodded, not quite making eye contact. 

"And you broke your hand doing…?"

"Punching a door frame."

" _ Why _ ?"

"Why is everyone ganging up on me?" Lucifer asked in place of an answer. 

"Not me," Dean piped up. "I totally get it. Property damage is better than jail time."

Back at the start of summer the twins had been fighting almost constantly, but it was nothing worse than shoving and clipped words, arguments that always bit off sharply when Sam came in the room. 

Siblings fought. It was in their nature―but Sam was pretty sure it was something you were supposed to grow out of by adulthood.

“I-” he wanted to launch right into a lecture, but there was a time and place for all things, and this was not it. “I’m just going to nod and say that I’m glad you guys are ok now and sorted out whatever had you both so pissed off before summer.”

“ _ Did _ you get it sorted?” June’s eyes had gone a little wide with what looked to be honest surprise.

Sam found himself fighting down the instant swell of jealousy he felt at the openness of the woman’s question. June knew. She knew what had happened. Even though Sam had practically lived on the outskirts of that feud for weeks, he’d never had the balls to actually ask what it had all been about. 

Lucifer was mumbling an unintelligible half answer as he pointedly looked off at the far wall, incredibly guilty-looking in a way that June seemed to find hilarious. She kept laughing her way through the rest of the tattoo touch up, leaving the colors of Lucifer’s flowers painfully bright, and shaking her head she pushed at her friend. 

“We’ll let it breathe for a bit before wrapping you up. Go find a chair to sit in while I poke these handsome best friend-slash-brothers―which is still the sweetest fucking thing, oh my god, I love it so much.”

Still holding his shirt to his chest, Lucifer slid off the table to go sit in an office chair nearby. 

Sam was very tempted to follow, telling himself that he wanted to look more closely at the new colors, but knowing that there might be some other underlying reasons. 

However, the threat of his own imminent tattooing kept him firmly in place.

“I thought you were joking,” Sam cast his worried gaze from June over to his brother.

“Oh, you two aren’t leaving here spot free.” June pulled off her gloves and tossed them into the trash before scrubbing her hands on her jeans. “It’s either going to be with Sharpies, or something a lot more permanent, but I promise either way I  _ am  _ going to draw on you guys.”

That rigid feeling in Sam’s spine gave way, and he instantly relaxed at the offer of something as non threatening as a permanent marker. “Yeah, that’s ok I guess.”

June grinned up at him in a way you’d expect a shark to grin at a much smaller fish. “You boys already have any tattoos?”

Sam said, “No.”

“One,” Dean answered at the same time. 

Startled, Sam turned to his brother. “Since when?”

“Since about a year ago, back when me and Cassy were still together. We got good and drunk one night and got each other's names―” Dean hesitated, tracing his finger in a line back and forth over the left side of his chest like a nervous tick. 

Feeling pity for his big brother wasn’t something that Sam ever thought he’d get used to. Dean had always been, and would always be, the biggest badass that Sam had ever known. He’d spent a lifetime looking up to the guy. It was hard to imagine that his idol was living alone in a house built for three, with his ex's name on his body as a permanent reminder. 

Sympathy would never be well received and Sam wasn’t sure what to say.

Lucifer had a perfect distraction though, calling out to them from where he was slowly spinning in his chair. “Can you guys each get half of a heart? One half on Sam’s ass, the other on Dean’s?”

“Yes!” June cheered, raising both her skinny arms in excitement. 

“No,” Sam said firmly.

Half an hour of worse suggestions and many protests later, Sam reluctantly agreed to what he felt was the least terrible proposition, and instantly had regrets.

  
  



	25. Chapter 25

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a short chapter, made mostly of fluff, so... I guess that's the mood I'm in this weekend. Not that I'm complaining. It's nice to write boys just being happy and stupid together.   
Thank you guys for the love and comments, and ko-fi donations <3 Thank you, thank you, for keeping me caffeinated in these uncertain times.

Lucifer wasn’t much of a tour guide. To be honest he never really came up to the bay area except for a couple of field trips back when he was a kid, and nowadays only if he was coming up to visit June or Gabe. He didn’t really know any of the sights, and frankly wasn’t in any kind of mood to enjoy them anyways.

Thankfully, Sam didn’t seem to be expecting too much as they walked through Golden Gate Park. Occasionally he’d look at the plants and stuff, mostly he just frowned and touched the left side of his chest roughly three times per minute.

“Don’t scratch at it,” Lucifer elbowed his friend, only half paying attention.

“I’m not scratching. Why would I scratch?”

He glanced sideways, realising that he hadn’t been seeing what he’d thought he’d seen. “It’ll be itchy in a few days. Don’t scratch at it.”

Sam grunted.

“And stop touching it,” Lucifer reached over and tugged the other man’s hand away from the fresh tattoo.

“It hurts.”

“Yeah, so maybe stop touching it.”

Defiant, Sam stared him dead in the eyes and stroked his own chest, followed by a poorly hidden wince.

Lucifer snorted and shook his head.

“Think that’s the first time I’ve seen you smile all day,” Sam nudged him lightly.

Struggling to keep his footing on the path, Lucifer folded his arms and did his best to frown―which was never easy when Sam was grinning at him. “Well, excuse me for being adequately disturbed by the fact that your brother actually stayed.”

Sam snorted and glanced awkwardly at the distant group of elderly women doing Tai Chi. “It’s… it’s just Dean. A pretty girl asks him to come up to her place, he’s absolutely going to say yes.”

“I don’t like it.”

The look on Sam’s face said he wasn’t super excited about the idea either, but he shrugged it off easy enough. 

“You are way too zen about this and I hate it,” Lucifer nudged Sam back, doing his best to push the younger man into a nearby flower bed.

With wide eyes, Sam stumbled and looked fairly betrayed. Like a retaliation, he asked, “Does it bother you that Dean might be fooling around with June, or that he might be fooling around with  _ Gabe _ ?”

He narrowed his eyes at Sam. “You’re really going to just ask me if  _ I _ should be bothered by  _ your  _ brother possibly having a threesome with  _ my _ brother?”

“That’s,” Sam licked his lips, looking off at the old trees lining the park, “it’s a little weird, right?”

Letting out a ragged breath, Lucifer shook his head. “Yeah. Or... no? Shit, Sam. I don’t know. I think I’d just like a little more mystery when it comes to my siblings’ sex lives.”

Sam nodded slowly, watching a woman jog past with a massive dog panting beside her. Once they were alone again, he timidly asked, “Does it also bother you knowing I’ve been with your brother?”

Missing a step, Lucifer turned to him with wide eyes. “W-when did you and Gabe―”

“Michael,” Sam corrected very quickly. “I mean when I was with Michael.”

“Oh thank god,” Lucifer relaxed before laughing uncomfortably. “I was gonna say. As far as I know, Gabe is pretty damn straight, but if he somehow got in your pants too I was going to have to go throw myself off the nearest bridge.”

“That’s a little overdramatic.” Sam rolled his eyes. “You could just say yeah, it still bothers you.”

“Yeah.” Lu grinned in a way that made his chest ache. “Imagining you in bed with one of my brothers still bothers me. A lot.”

To be fair, imagining Sam in bed with  _ anyone _ made Lucifer feel violently jealous in ways he still hadn’t been willing to address. It didn’t help that he’d unknowingly been listening through the walls to the sounds of Sam and Michael banging for months without realising it.

Remembering that always brought to mind far too many unhelpful images.

Unhelpful and incredibly distracting images that Sam had to physically shake him out of with a sharp elbow to his ribs.

Rubbing his side, Lu looked up, awkwardly realising that Sam had continued talking and was now looking at him as if waiting for an answer.

Pushing aside the tantalising memory of Sam telling him he’d never bottomed, Lucifer cleared his throat. “Sorry, say it again?”

“You looked about a million miles away,” Sam chuckled.

Running his hands through his hair he tried a smile. “I was in my happy place.”

“Yeah, ok,” Sam’s grin felt more distracting than normal. “I was asking if you and I can go find some dinner and try to not think about what our brothers might be doing?”

“How about we just pretend we don’t have any brothers at all?” Lucifer counter-offered.

“As long as pretending to be an only child still includes us getting dinner of some kind, because I’m starving.”

“At this point I’m honestly afraid what might happen if we keep on feeding. What if you keep growing? You’re already the tallest person I know; what are you trying to prove?” 

Sam shrugged his broad shoulders and smiled. “I’m a growing boy,” he offered as an excuse.

Lucifer really hoped not. Today was already shot to hell and he still hadn’t had time to come to terms with Sam actually being taller than him suddenly. 

They found a restaurant out near June and Gabe’s place, somewhere close enough that Dean could make his walk of shame over to join them once he was done with whatever things he was doing that Lucifer would rather not think about. Sam took the responsibility of sending a text about where they were, and Lu took the more important job of ordering himself something strong to drink.

Sake came in the smallest little cups he’d ever seen in his life and very quickly Lucifer realised that there was no way to sit across from Sam and hold his drink without feeling incredibly awkward. 

“I’m not an expert or anything,” Sam pointed at Lu with his chopsticks, “but I don’t think you’re supposed to drink those like shots.”

“They didn’t come with instructions,” he argued instead of trying to explain that he didn’t want to sip on his drink and feel like a giant at a very strange tea party. He was never like this with any of his other friends, only Sam. It felt like he’d been second guessing everything he’d ever said or done since meeting this guy, which sadly didn’t seem to be a problem he’d be getting over any time soon. 

It should have helped that Sam seemed utterly oblivious to all of it.

Should have, but it didn’t.

“You know,” Lucifer could always distract himself from his own awkward feelings though, “I thought when you ordered all those rolls, that you were planning to save some for your brother.”

Sam snorted and shook his head, followed by color rushing to his cheeks as he looked away and laughed a little harder.

No one Sam’s size had any right being as adorable as he was, and Lucifer rested his chin on a fist and smiled, waiting for any kind of explanation to the overreaction.

“Sorry,” Sam grinned, his eyes bright. “I almost said something about Dean already having something to eat tonight and something about Gabe and June and then I thought maybe I’d better not mention it.”

“I feel like I should say eww,” Lucifer refilled his tiny cup and pushed it in front of Sam, “but I also feel like that was some nine-year-old boy’s attempt at an innuendo and I mostly just feel bad for you. Drink.”

“I’m not twenty-one yet,” Sam said with the shiftiest expression as he curled both hands around the cup like he meant to hide it.

“When has that ever stopped you?”

“One of us has to drive back to Stanford.”

“You’re not going to get drunk off one thimble full of booze, and I figured your brother can drive his own damn car back once he’s done… as long as he can actually sit after June and Gabe are done with him.”

With a look of actual horror, Sam noisily sipped the shot glass like it could save him from the terrible suggestion of what their brothers might be doing. Whispering soft enough that the people the next table over wouldn’t be able to overhear, Sam confusedly pointed out, “But Gabe’s so short.”

After a confused stutter, Lucifer took his glass back and poured it full enough it nearly sloshed over the edges. “Ok. But you  _ are _ joking, right? Because I don’t know what my brother taught you, or what you learned during  _ Sam’s Summer of Love _ tour, but heights don’t really factor in.”

Sam’s lips became a thin line and his eyebrows lowered. “I was just thinking things might not line up right,” his words were slowly becoming further and further apart like his own thoughts were unsettling him, “I wasn’t really thinking that hard about it, but I guess … I guess they could always be in the other position―”

“ _ The _ ?” Lucifer almost snorted sake out his nose, choking. “ _ The other one _ ?”

“Shut up.” Sam kicked him under the table and hissed, “I don’t know  _ everything _ , but I know about both positions.”

Lucifer was at a complete loss. “Both?”

Sam angrily ate his sushi, red up to his ears.

“I want to hope that you’re joking,” Lucifer was struggling to hold back laughter, feeling his eyes start to water, “but you’re just so bad at joking.”

Sam kicked him a second time.

Wincing, Lucifer kept going, “You and your friends never stayed up late watching some porno someone found under their older brother’s bed?” 

The uneasy look on the other man’s face said that what Lucifer was describing wasn’t a universal experience.

“Really?”

“Look, if teenage you was watching,” Sam glanced around, dropping his voice even though absolutely no one in the restaurant seemed to be paying them any attention, “ _ porn _ with your friends, I’m willing to say that you guys were the weird ones. Not me.”

“As long as you don’t make eye contact with anyone it’s really not that weird.” Even as Lucifer argued, he had to admit that he could also see it from Sam’s point of view, and ok, maybe Lu and his childhood friend’s might have been a bit strange―but it had seemed very normal at the time.

“So,” Sam leaned forward, eyes narrowing like a challenge, “you’re saying that as long as we didn’t look at each other, there’d be nothing at all weird if you and me watched something together when we get home?”

Lucifer ground his teeth.

“Because, you know I’ve got my doubts, but I hear that it’s super normal for friends to do.” 

Lucifer thought to himself that Sam was notably less cute when he teased back.

And even less cute when Sam realised he was winning. “And then we can all learn about this mysterious third position.”

Lucifer poured himself another tiny cup full and decided it was in his best interest not to acknowledge Sam’s taunt. No good could possibly come from it. 

Nearly forty-five minutes after they’d finished eating, Sam finally broke down and admitted that all his unanswered texts probably meant that they wouldn’t be seeing Dean until tomorrow morning―or sometime very late tonight at best. Which really threw off tonight’s plan of getting back to Stanford, despite Lucifer’s repeated suggestion that the man could find his own way home. 

Apparently Dean taking an Uber back to Stanford tomorrow was not an option, because Sam didn’t want to steal his brother’s car, which was a coward’s move. Despite the knowledge that he wouldn’t be seeing his own bed tonight unless they went back to June’s and forcibly extracted Dean, Lucifer gave up fighting with Sam as soon as the other man suggested that they get a hotel room for the night. 

Dean could join them if and when he was able.

Considering that Lucifer had spent the last hour ordering himself ‘just one more drink’ so that the staff at the restaurant wouldn’t give them dirty looks, he was more than a little conscious of the fact that this was not a fantastic idea.

However, all those drinks also meant that it was easy enough to ignore that internal good advice. 

With that tremendously big bad decision agreed on, Lucifer paid their bill and was honestly surprised at how unsteady he was on his feet. 

Blinking at the floor and wondering what on earth he’d almost tripped over, Lucifer frowned, then jumped as Sam’s arm slid around him. 

“Come on, you light weight,” Sam chuckled.

“I’m  _ fine _ .” Lucifer laughed and slapped at his friend’s chest. “Let me go, you handsy bastard.”

“Ok, ok,” Sam put his hands up like he was under arrest. “But I’m going to be right here if you wanna trip over any more deceptively even flooring.” 

“You just think you’re so damn cute.”

Sam grinned and started very slowly towards the door. “There’s supposed to be a pretty reasonably priced and not horribly shady hotel three blocks from here. We can walk. A little night air might do you good.”

“I thought you’ve never been here before,” Lucifer followed, pleased that he managed to not trip over any more lines on the ground. “How do you know there’s a hotel?”

“I looked it up on my phone.”

“When…” Lucifer stopped walking, “How long have you been planning this?”

Rolling his eyes and taking Lucifer's hand, Sam started to pull him along. “I haven't been planning anything. I just looked it up like five minutes ago while you were talking about socks.”

“I was talking about socks?”

“Yup. Apparently you don’t like that line thing along your toes.”

“I fucking hate that thing.”

“Why do I get the flirty, touchy drunk you when we’ve got company over, but when I get you alone I get the rambling drunk you who hates socks?”

Lucifer laughed at the fact that Sam would rather talk about socks than be hit on, but he couldn’t blame the guy. “What can I say? I am a mysterious creature.”

“I would have called you an adorable drunk, but sure, we can go with a mysterious creature if it makes you happy.”

It did make him happy. Sam thought he was adorable. 

On a normal day Lucifer would have punched someone for calling him that, but tonight he felt warm and happy, holding Sam’s hand as he was dragged to a well lit hotel lobby and then up to a hotel room with two very comfortable looking beds. 

Lucifer threw himself face down onto the nearest one and waited for the room to stop tilting around him. 

“You alright?” Sam asked, reaching out to lightly touch the back of one of Lucifer’s knees.

Trying not to squirm, he answered back with an assuring grunt. 

“You’re going to sleep like that?”

“I’m not going to sleep.”

“Oh, you’re just going to hug the mattress for a while?”

“Mattresses need hugs too,” Lucifer argued, rolling away from Sam’s touch that had continued to drift slowly up his leg. “Stop with the tickling.” Finding himself on his back meant that he could look up at the other man, and very quickly he decided this was a bad thing. He’d been better off not seeing Sam’s grin. 

“Oh?” Sam knelt on the edge of the bed, the mattress dipping under his weight. “You’re ticklish, Lu?”

Even through his slightly tipsy haze Lucifer knew there was absolutely no way to tell Sam ‘no’ with any kind of believability. So he folded his arms and attempted to look disinterested. 

It didn’t help.

Sam reached out, running his fingers up Lucifer’s side, along his ribs. 

Lucifer bit his lower lip and narrowed his eyes at Sam. It took every ounce of self control that he had not to roll away or wildly slap at the other man.

“Just a little?” Sam edged closer, now with both hands on either side of Lucifer’s ribs.

It was the worst.

Keeping his arms folded as tightly as possible to help protect his armpits safe from the obvious threat, Lucifer shook his head. “Nope. Nope, nope nope.” Though not a great argument, it was the only one that he could manage right then.

Sam seemed to take it as encouragement though, doubling down on his efforts until finally Lucifer couldn’t take it anymore. Laughing and squirming, he grabbed at Sam’s arms and hands and anything he could reach to try and stop the tickling and save himself. It was a good plan, and perhaps if he’d been sober he might have been able to protect himself in a less haphazard way that didn’t end up with him trying to roll away and accidentally falling off the bed. 

Laying there, slightly stunned, and still laughing, Lucifer grinned up at Sam as the other man popped his worried face over the edge of the mattress. 

“You ok?”

Lucifer held an arm out for help, waiting for Sam to take the offer like the kind young man that he was. He didn’t let himself be pulled up from the valley between the bed and the wall though, instead Lucifer grabbed Sam’s shoulder and pulled him down off the bed.

A sober Lucifer could have seen the obvious problem in this little plan of retaliation, but after so many drinks he didn’t really have the mental capacity to remember that Sam was a whole lot of broad shoulders and lean muscle, and maybe not something that he’d like to have fall on top of himself. 

Sam landed hard and sudden, and for a moment all either of them could do was make soft pained noises.

After many long, ragged breaths, Lucifer patted one of Sam’s shoulders. “You ok?”

Letting out a soft laugh, Sam pushed himself up onto his elbows, looking down at Lu. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m ok. Are you...” the question tapered off as Sam licked his lips.

Very suddenly, Lucifer felt a twinge of pity for Michael. His idiot of a brother obviously had no taste if he’d willingly pass up on someone like Sam. 

A feeling that Lucifer struggled to put into words and simply ended up saying, “You’re really heavy.”

“Sorry,” Sam let out a sharp sigh and tried to clamor up on to the bed, a task that would have been a whole lot easier if there had been more room between the bed and the wall, and more safe places for him to put his knees.

Lucifer would have been lying if he tried to say that that brief tangle of legs and unexpected moments of friction were not absolutely thrilling― but even drunk he could tell that this was a bad situation that he’d put himself in. 

Even after Sam found his clumsy way back up on the bed, Lucifer stayed on the floor. 

“You need help up?” Came the offer from somewhere up above.

“Might sleep down here.”

“There’s two beds, Luci,” Sam sighed, peeking down at him, “you’re not sleeping on the floor.”

“One bed for you, one bed for your brother, and all the floor for me.”

“Nope,” Sam said in a way that didn’t leave much room for arguing.

Before Lucifer had a chance to come up with a retaliation of any kind, the other man had circled around to the foot of the bed to take Lucifer by the ankles and drag him out.

He could have struggled, but instead Lucifer laughed as he was pulled from the hole he’d fallen into, utterly pleased that Sam could actually move him. That happy feeling gave away very quickly to one of concern though as he was picked up far too easily and tossed onto one of the beds.

“Anyone ever tell you you’re a little scary?” Lucifer uneasily sat up, keeping a close eye on the other man.

“Because I can pick you up?” Sam managed to sound very innocent. 

Lucifer wasn’t buying it though. “I don’t even think Mike can pick me up. You’ve got that weird farm boy strength or something. It’s not normal.”

“When was the last time your brother tried to pick you up? Because I bet he  _ could _ . Also, I’ve never even visited a farm.”

“You’re from Kansas, or wherever,” Lucifer was almost positive. “Middle of America is just one giant farm. Bet you’d never even seen a Starbucks before you came out here.”

“I’m going to let that slide, since you’re obviously drunk,” Sam sat on the second bed, wearing a half of a smile, “and you’re very weird when you’re drunk.”

“I’m not weird,” Lucifer squirmed, sliding a hand up his own back beneath his shirt. “Not even when I’m drunk.”

Sam hummed in soft disbelief, watching as Lucifer tried to look over his shoulder, down his shirt, at his own back. 

“What are you doing?” He finally asked.

“I think I’ve got carpet burn from when this freakishly strong farm boy dragged me across the ground a little while back.”

“If you did then you deserved it, Luci.” But there was no bite to Sam’s words as he slid over to join Lucifer, carefully pushing up his shirt in the back and gently pressing his hands over the slightly tender skin. “I’m not a doctor, but I think it’s safe to say you’ll make it.”

“No need to amputate?”

Sam let out a startled laugh before assuring, “No, don’t think we’ll have to amputate your whole back because a little carpet burn.”

It was a comforting reassurance, and Lu smiled, leaning back against his friend, letting his full weight rest on Sam.

“Oh, hi,” Sam chuckled, sliding his hand from the small of Lucifer’s back to wrap his arm cautiously around his waist. “You getting comfortable?”

“The room is spinning less,” Lucifer let his head fall back, resting against Sam’s shoulder as he looked up at his friend. “Didn’t sleep much last night―think it’s starting to catch up with me.”

“Or it could be the alcohol.”

“Could be,” Lucifer admitted slowly. 

Sam looked off at the blank tv screen for a long while before softly saying, “You know, I think we should leave the second bed free for Dean… just in case he shows up tonight.”

“I don’t think he will,” Lucifer snickered, thinking about what he’d do if he was in Dean’s predicament. 

“Well, but just in case,” Sam insisted. “It might be best if I sleep over here with you.”

Lucifer sat up straighter, pushing his hands over his face and through his hair. Yes, he’d had a lot to drink tonight, but he didn’t feel so drunk that he wasn’t in control. Lucifer was almost certain that he’d be able to keep his hands to himself. Sam would probably be perfectly safe sleeping over here. 

“Y-yeah,” he nodded to himself. “That should be ok.” 

Trying to will himself sober and smarter, Lucifer startled as Sam’s shoes went sailing past him to hit the floor, followed by a pair of jeans.

Lucifer felt his stomach suddenly twist in anxious knots as the man behind him shifted around and got under the blankets. 

Distracting himself by checking his phone, Lu saw that it was still a quarter until nine, which was too early for bed in anyone’s book. Almost definitely taking too long to sit in silence, trying to figure out what to do, Lucifer finally let himself fall back onto the bed, head nowhere near the pillow, laying on top of the blankets, feet still on the floor, all the lights still on. This felt safest.

“You comfy?” Sam asked from up above him.

“Yeah,” Lucifer craned his neck to look back at his friend. 

“You’re going to sleep with your shoes on?”

“Maybe,” Lucifer grinned, holding up his phone for Sam to see. “Come down here and watch YouTube with me until I fall asleep?” Or at least until he was sure he was sober enough to not do anything stupid.

With a soft chuckle, Sam slid down the bed, rolling onto his side and resting his chin on Lucifer’s shoulder. “What are we going to watch?”

To Lucifer’s surprise they both eagerly agreed to watch clips from Animal Planet episodes, and he judge his own sobriety by how emotional he felt any time there was a five or ten minute segment on a pregnant animal or it’s recent babies. 

Sam was forgiving and only chuckled softly each time Lucifer had to put a hand over his mouth to quiet the indignant sounds that would force their way out each time he saw an awkwardly stumbling new born animal. 

“But look how small she is,” Lucifer demanded, lifting the phone from his chest to bring it closer to Sam’s face. “ _ Look _ .”

“Yes. I can see the baby giraffe,” Sam promised, pushing the phone back to its resting place. “Thank you.”

“She’s so floppy she can’t even hold her head up.”

Sam nodded and gave him a comforting side hug.

“She looks like a muppet. I love her so much,” Lucifer’s chest felt tight as he watched the leggy baby giraffe try to stand. Which meant that he was definitely not sober yet, and that was ok. 

Three more slightly emotional videos later, and his eyelids were starting to feel heavy. Lucifer decided to blame the soft bed and the warm man at his side for making a night owl like himself so tired so early into the evening. 

He stifled a yawn and pushed his head against Sam’s. “I’m falling asleep.”

“I can see that.”

Lucifer set his phone on Sam’s chest. “There you go,” he grinned up at Sam before folding his hands over his chest and settling in.

“You’re just going to sleep like that?”

Grumbling, Lucifer toed off his shoes before grabbing a corner of the blanket and pulling it over himself, wrapping up like a caterpillar in a cocoon. 

“You good?”

“I’m ok.”

“You wanna get under the blankets like a normal human?” Sam offered. 

Lucifer peered out of his nest, realising he’d stolen all the blankets during his aggressive rolling, leaving Sam looking fairly cold and untucked. 

It wasn’t a bad look on the guy. Not at all. and Lucifer found himself staring. 

Thankfully his expression must have looked more confused than lecherous, since Sam only laughed and tried to steal back his half of the blanket. 

With more of a struggle than the situation called for, they eventually got Lu properly in bed, between the sheets and very close to Sam without the illusion of safety that the blankets had provided.

Sam looked very comfortable, settling into his pillow after turning off the bedside lamp. 

Laying there in the sudden dark, Lucifer calmly reminded himself that they had done this before. They’d slept side by side more than once and nothing weird had happened and that was a very low bar that he’d set. All he needed to do was to say goodnight and go to sleep, and wake up in the morning with no regrets aside from a small headache. 

“It’s still pretty early,” Lucifer hugged himself. “I can sleep through whatever if you wanted to stay up and watch tv or something.” 

“I’ll think about it,” Sam assured him, rolling onto his side and laying far closer than he needed to considering it was a pretty big bed. “Do I get a goodnight kiss?”

“Do you get a  _ what _ ?” Lucifer’s voice was tight, matching the sudden gripping feeling in his chest.

“A kiss goodnight. Like you gave me last night.” With all the lights out it was very difficult to see what sort of expression Sam was wearing, and his tone didn’t offer any clues. 

Last night felt like weeks ago and Lucifer had almost successfully forgotten that he’d so recently been a rather glorious idot. He really needed to space out these bad choices.

“Sorry about that. I sometimes get really… touchy when I’ve been drinking,” was the weak excuse he managed to come up with. “I probably would have kissed pretty much anyone who dragged me back to my room.”

“You’ve been drinking again tonight.”

“Yes, but I’ve sobered up and I promise you don’t have to worry. I’ll keep my hands and lips to myself.” When Lucifer didn’t get an answer back he sheepishly added, “and I  _ am _ sorry.”

“Right now I’d rather have a kiss than an apology.”

Lucifer groaned and rubbed at his face, mumbling, “I know I suck at sorries and I should have said it sooner. Sorry I can be a real shitty friend sometimes. I’ll do better.” 

Beside him Sam rolled onto his back to face the ceiling with another frustrated sound. 

Lucifer never failed to disappoint himself with his ability to make things worse.

“Yeah. Ok,” Sam said finally. 

If it had been one of his brothers lying there beside him sounding that annoyed, Lucifer would have easily gone with the proven method of simply saying ‘I love you’ to diffuse the situation. Wisely, Lucifer kept his mouth closed, because those were not words that would make Sam feel better right now. 

According to the bedside clock it wasn’t even ten yet. 

Still too early to be here in bed.

But feeling very trapped now by his own stupidity and flirty feelings from the night before, Lucifer whispered goodnight and tried to fall asleep.


	26. Chapter 26

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A massive thank you to everyone waiting patiently for another chapter while I'm over here being a lump and getting little to no writing done for weeeeks.   
And thank you for all the little comments, on this story, and on my older ones as it seems many of you are doing re-reads while you're trapped indoors with nothing else to do. I don't usually reply to comments, but know that I read them all, and grin, and cherish your words as the gently internet hugs/high-fives that they are.

“You’re very distracted tonight.”

Startled from his thoughts, Lucifer blinked his eyes back into focus and looked over at Castiel. Mumbling an apology he pressed a kiss to the corner of his boyfriend’s mouth and hoped that he hadn’t missed something important.

“Don’t apologize.” Cas smiled sheepishly and admitted, “I was getting a little lost myself. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the moon so big.”

“I thought you do this kind of thing all the time.”

“Usually only from a rooftop or my bedroom window,” he rolled on his side to rest his head on Lucifer’s chest. “This is my first Hunter’s moon without city lights interfering.”

To Lucifer, it was just a full moon―a very big full moon, but nothing special. He’d patiently listened all afternoon to Castiel’s gushing over how tonight was going to be the full moon nearest some sort of equinox, and supposedly breathtaking, and how much Cas wished he hadn’t left his telescope back home in Maine. It only left Lucifer with the singular option of driving his boyfriend out to the middle of nowhere so he could look at the sky.

“It’s nice,” he told the man half laying against his chest.

“It’s ok to not be excited about the sky,” Cas assured him and kissed the underside of his jaw. 

“No. I’m enjoying it,” Lucifer hastily tried to defend himself. “It’s really relaxing, and a great excuse to get out of the house.”

“That was incredibly unconvincing, Luci.”

“Sorry.”

Castiel smiled and shook his head, rolling to his back to resume his stargazing. “More problems with your brother?”

“Thankfully no.” It was so much easier to get along with Michael now that he was out of the house. Lucifer even found himself missing the jerk sometimes. “It’s… it’s stupid.”

“You’re welcome to vent about it if you need to. I’m a good listener.”

“It’s because these cute ears you’ve got,” Lucifer curled close, feeling the blankets they’d laid out bunching up underneath him. He kissed the soft skin behind the other man’s ear before gently nibbling his way to a spot that always made Cas squirm, which should have been a perfect distraction from an awkward conversation.

Unfortunately, it seemed that Castiel built up an immunity to Lucifer’s attempts at being charming after a whole summer semester of him attempting to avoid studying math.

Lucifer ended up with the other man’s cold fingers pressed against his lips as Cas leaned back and gave him a steely look. “It’s  _ that  _ bad?”

Frustrated, Lucifer sighed and pushed the hand away from his mouth. “It’s my roommate.” He sighed again. “You know how we went up to San Francisco a few days ago and ended up staying the night?”

Castiel nodded, waiting with the least judgemental expression possible in his wide owlish eyes.

The majority of this story had been shared the same day that Lucifer had gotten back into town―minus one small but important detail.

“I think Sam almost kissed me.”

There was zero change to Cas’s face other than a small rise in his eyebrows.

“I was a little drunk―well, not even  _ drunk _ , just sort of soft around the edges. But we were in bed and he… he asked me for a kiss goodnight. At least I think he did?”

“You’re not sure?”

“Well, he called me out on the fact that I sort of kissed him goodnight the night before,” Lucifer bit his lip in a grimace before trying to excuse his actions by clarifying, “in a super platonic, not sexy way. Like a friend-kiss.”

“I’ve never kissed my friends while drinking,” Castiel said flatly.

If they hadn’t known each other for months Lucifer might have squirmed under such a look. But he could see the hint of amusement in the other man’s eyes, and knew he was being teased.

“ _ Alright _ . Ok. So I used to have a little crush on the guy back when he was dating my brother. There were some ‘more than friend’ feelings a couple of months ago, but I’m over it. Or at least I’m doing my best. He’s not into me anyways.”

“You think he wanted to kiss you, but you also don’t think he likes you?”

“When you say it like that, I get that it sounds like I’m being stupid. But you don’t know him, Cas. Sam’s the kind of friend who doesn’t get personal space―and it wouldn't surprise me if at some point he came up to me, told me he’s not flirting, but would I mind kissing him for a bit and then giving him pointers of how he could do better.” Lucifer ran a hand over his face, letting out a hollow-sounding breath. 

“That’s an oddly specific example.”

Lucifer peered out from between his fingers, feeling a little cornered and like he might have said too much.

Castiel prodded in that very calm way of his, with no accusation, only open curiosity, “Is it a wishful daydream talking, or from experience?”

It was a little of both.

But that would demand all sorts of extra explanation.

Lucifer mentally scrambled for a way to avoid answering that uncomfortable question.

“Look, I appreciate the whole supportive boyfriend bit, but you’re allowed to come out and be mad that I told you I kissed another guy goodnight, even if Sam’s just a friend and it was very platonic.”

“Am I supposed to be mad?” Castiel let out a sharp breath through his nose, which for him was nearly the same as a laugh. “Luci, I only just found out this week that you and I are dating. You’ll have to give me at least a few more days to work up any kind of jealousy.”

Resigned, Lucifer closed his eyes.

The crickets were the only sound for a long minute, before Castiel said, “I can’t speak for Sam, but I personally wouldn’t ask someone for a kiss, even as a joke, if I wasn’t hoping for a kiss.”

“I would.” Lucifer lived for that sort of thing. He thrived on making other people uneasy. 

“Well, you’re strange,” Cas replied with some confidence, then thoughtfully asked, “Is Sam strange like you?”

Lucifer honestly wasn’t sure.

After a little more light arguing, followed up with some heavy petting, he took Castiel back home. There’d been no easy answers, and despite spending a solid five minutes kissing his boyfriend good night, Lucifer still couldn’t shake all those same troubling thoughts that he’d had since waking up hungover beside Sam days before. 

He pulled into the driveway, frowning sideways at his brother’s Jeep. Mike hadn’t called or texted to say he was coming over tonight and Lucifer was almost certain he didn’t want to hang out tonight―but maybe it wouldn’t hurt to get a second opinion about the Sam situation.

The light in the front room was on, some movie playing on the TV even though no one was in the room to watch it. Lucifer didn’t have many thoughts on that though, instead finding himself very fixed on the mostly empty vodka bottle and completely empty Oreo package that had been left on the coffee table. 

Mike had broken up with Kelvin, or at very least had a bad fight. Lucifer was all too familiar with his brother’s comfort foods in the same way that Michael was the only one who knew where Lucifer kept his secret cookie stash. 

“Great,” he grumbled, turning off the TV and picking up the empty cookie wrapper. He didn’t make it to the garbage, instead stopping to look at the crumpled t-shirt on the floor beside the couch. Turning in a slow circle, he saw more discarded clothes leading down the hall to Mike’s old room. 

Reluctantly following the trail, he peered around the doorframe to the bedroom that now belonged to Sam and felt his insides go numb. 

The two men on the bed were asleep, but they were also very naked and it wasn’t a mystery what they’d spend their evening doing. 

Lucifer stood in the hall for far too long before finally making himself close the door. 

This wasn’t his business and it wasn’t his problem, and it wouldn’t be his job to clean up the inevitable mess later. At least that was what he stubbornly repeated to himself as he grabbed the mostly empty vodka bottle from the front room and went to bed.

There was coffee for him on the counter when he woke up. Even though it was cool enough to drink he stood there blowing into his mug, frowning at the note that Sam had left. 

A small reminder that he had classes starting up today and he might be getting dinner with Mike so he wouldn’t be home until late.

Lucifer crumpled the note, downed his coffee, and went to work in a bad mood.

He hardly even realised today was a Wednesday until he saw Kelvin standing at his desk like he’d been waiting for him. Over the past few months their relationship had gone through some serious changes, not bad ones though. Nowadays they didn’t talk much, but Lucifer would always nod to the guy who was currently living his his brother, sometimes they had lunch together and pretended it wasn’t at all weird that they used to have sex in the supply closet. 

There were no pleasantries today though.

“Do I need to hit you?”

Kelvin looked up from his phone, raising one eyebrow. “I’d prefer if you didn’t.” He looked like a man who hadn’t slept at all the night before.

Lucifer waited.

Casual, like he didn’t care what the answer was, the other man asked, “So Mike ended up at your place last night I’m guessing?”

Lucifer kept waiting, hoping that every last ounce of his anger was showing clearly on his face.

“How is he?”

“Oh, he’s fucking fine,” Lucifer folded his arms to keep himself from doing something stupid. “You come here to check on him? Because if you two had a fight it’s none of my damn business and not my problem. You wanna talk about whatever happened, you talk about it with him.”

For a moment, and only a moment, there was a whole lot of rough emotion on Kelvin’s face, but it was all tucked away and he asked in a very business-like way, “I came to see if you’d be up to fostering a dog we got in to the clinic two days ago.”

Lucifer shook his head. He’d taken in his fair share of kittens over the years, not minding the bottle feedings through the night because it’s not like he was sleeping anyways, but he’d only volunteer if there wasn't anyone else able to take them.

“He’s real small, real nervous, we just need a quiet place for him to heal before we bring he’s ready to get adopted out.” 

“What do you mean ‘heal’?” Lu asked, prickling slightly.

“He’d been hit by a car and someone dumped him on our doorstep after hours. He’s got a leg in a cast and really just needs a lap to lay on and some socialization.”

“I’ve never taken care of a dog.”

“Please? I know it’s not your thing, but our staff already checked with the other foster homes. It’s just for a couple of weeks.”

Lucifer had always been able to put up a tough front, but pretty much anyone who knew him knew it was all for show. Making a fuss about what a big inconvenience it would be, and how Kelvin didn’t have any right to ask for favors, but maybe after work, he could come by the vet’s office and take a look at the dog―Lucifer had already committed himself to take the dog home.

Not that it was much of a dog.

The pitiful looking little thing was hardly bigger than a shoe, and when Sam came home that night he didn’t even seem to notice the tiny bump beneath Lucifer’s hoodie.

Not even lifting his head from the couch armrest he was using as a pillow, Lucifer drawled, “You’re home late.”

With an almost sheepish grin, Sam set his wallet and keys on the kitchen counter. “Sorry. You didn’t have to wait up for me.”

“I didn’t wait for you. I’m Netflix and chilling after a shit day at work.”

Sam’s smile left in an instant. “Sorry. What happened?”

“Just your normal, terrible, awful, no good kinda day. What about you?”

“Classes seem ok.” He shrugged and came over. Lifting Lucifer’s leg to make room on the couch, Sam sat down the other man’s legs over his lap, his warm hands resting along Lucifer’s ankles. “Mike came over last night. I’m sure you saw his car when you got home.”

They were in such a comfortable position that Lucifer hated to even acknowledge what Sam was telling him because it would spoil the moment. Still, the irritation he’d been hanging onto all day long couldn’t just let it go. “Yeah. I noticed you two’s clothes all over the floor when I got home too.” 

Sam had the decency to look embarrassed, color creeping up his cheeks while he looked away. 

“So are you two back together?” Lucifer asked, the words coming out tense despite his efforts to sound casual. 

“No,” Sam said quickly. “Last night was… it was an accident. Mike came over after some big fight with Kelvin. He was being his usual overdramatic self, we talked a lot, and we drank… a lot, and,” he shrugged again, gesturing off down the hall in the direction of his room. 

That answer didn’t make Lucifer as happy as he’d expected.

“Where’s Mike now?” Even as much as he loved his big brother, Lucifer knew he wouldn’t be able to politely handle a surprise visit tonight. 

“He’s on his way back to his own place.” Sam smiled with some damnably bright optimism. “Supposedly he’s just going to grab some stuff and come back here for the night, but he’s been getting texts from Kelvin all during dinner and I could see him melting while he read them. I think they’ll work things out.” 

“Good for them,” Lucifer grumbled, looking back at the television and trying not to frown.

“So, you salty jerk, do you wanna talk about why today was terrible, awful, and no good?”

Thankfully that was when the dog beneath his sweater decided to sneeze, saving Lucifer from having to try and explain that he’d spent the whole day unable to shake the fear that Sam and Mike might have decided now was a great time to give dating a second chance.

“What is that?” Sam demanded with far too much glee in his voice.

Lucifer gently rested a hand over the warm lump sleeping on his stomach. “An injured dog came to us today from the vet’s office. I agreed to take care of him until his cast comes off and he can get adopted out.”

Sam’s eyes went round. “That’s a dog?”

“The doctor that patched him up seemed to think so.” Lucifer carefully pulled the zipper of his sweater down half way, peering down his chest at the little furry head resting against his ribs. “He got shaved yesterday because apparently he was all kind of matted and full of fleas, so don’t judge his unfortunate hairdo, it wasn’t his choice.”

Sam’s weight pressed against Lucifer’s legs as the younger man leaned close. “Can I pet him?”

“Just on his shoulders or head. He’s on some good pain meds for his leg, but the doc says he might be a little sensitive to having around his tail and stuff touched.” Lucifer moved his hand out of the way so the other man could have easy access to the furry little thing.

With no acknowledgement of how compromising their positions were rapidly sliding into, Sam lay down and folded his arms over Lucifer’s hips to put his face inches away from the sleeping dog. Whispering the softest sounds, Sam carefully ran one finger over the short brown fur and floppy ears. 

“You’re so small,” Sam told the dog, and then asked, “Why are you so small?”

“Hope you’re not expecting him to answer,” Lucifer teased, even though he’d had a very similar one-sided conversation with the dog on the drive home. “The nurses named him Tiny, but we can call him something else, something a little less emasculating.”

“You said he’s just staying for a bit, right?” Sam hadn’t raised his gaze, still smiling and gently stroking the dog’s ears. 

“A few weeks,” Lucifer nodded, finding his attention evenly split between the man and the dog laying on him. 

“If we give him a real name I’ll only get too attached.” Sam kissed the tip of a finger and gently placed it between the dog’s ears. “That said, I love him and we should call him Biscuit.”

Lucifer snorted. “Biscuit?” 

“He looks like a Biscuit.”

“He looks like a dog,” he argued, trying not to laugh.

“I’d argue that he actually looks more like a baby weasel or something with just that little face of his sticking out of your sweater.” Sam grinned, shifting his weight against Lucifer’s legs. “And Biscuit is a good name for him.”

“So you’re not mad I agreed to take him home?”

“Mad?” Sam looked horrified at the suggestion. “Why would I be mad?”

“Mike always got mad when I brought something home. He says animals are messy.”

“That’s what my folks would say whenever I tried to talk them into letting me get a pet. Yeah, they’re messy, but so are little boys―and that sure didn’t stop Mom and Dad from having two.”

“Speaking of hot messes, did your brother make it home in one piece?”

Following a sarcastic, slow laugh, Sam said, “Yeah, Dean got back into Kansas yesterday. Oh,” he bit his lip and looked at the newly named Biscuit, “I didn’t mean to wake you up. Hi.”

From what Kelvin and the nurses at the clinic had said, judging by the matts in its fur the dog had been a stray for a long while. He was a skittish little pup, who’d taken nearly half an hour of gentle coaxing, and most of a chicken breast, to be convinced it was safe to come out of his carrier and sit on Lucifer’s lap. Apparently waking up to Sam laying behind him was a bit much for the dog who started shaking and trying to scoot away as best as his broken back leg and system full of pain killers would let him. 

Sam didn’t take offence. Instead he pushed himself back up to sitting and tried his best to look non threatening. 

“It’s ok…  _ Biscuit _ ,” Lucifer soothed, zipping his hoodie back up and lightly hovering his hands over the nervous dog. “I know he looks scary, but I promise it’s all for show. Sam’s really nice.” 

“Aw, Lu,” Sam smiled, “I didn’t know you felt that way.”

“Shut up.” Doing his best not to jostle the dog, Lucifer put a foot against Sam’s side and started to push him. “If you want to be his friend there’s some more chicken in the kitchen. He can have a couple tiny little pieces.”

Almost too eager, he slid off the couch and shortly returned with a handful of little shreds of meat. Sitting on the floor beside them, Sam rested his chin on Lucifer’s chest and carefully fed tiny bites of meat down into the hoodie. 

After a long and awkward wait Sam whispered with far too much joy. “He’s licking my fingers.”

It was a little uncomfortable to stay laying as cautiously still as he was, and very weird to have someone’s hand down his shirt petting a dog, but the other man’s hair was in Lucifer’s face and it smelled nice.

As much as those butterflies in his stomach demanded that he stay blissfully still and enjoy the moment for as long as it lasted, Lucifer found that he very quickly got annoyed by the soft brown hair tickling his nose. 

“God, you need a haircut,” he complained, pushing some of Sam’s hair behind an ear.

“You sound like Dean,” Sam chuckled and turned his head to look back. A soft smile curled at the corners of his mouth. “You ok? Because I can move if I’m crushing you.”

“It’s fine.” Lucifer should have dropped his hand instead of brushing more of Sam’s hair out of his face. It was a small gesture, but it was also a very intimate gesture made so much worse by the fact that Sam’s head was still resting against him. 

Which would have been a good time for the other man to resume petting the dog, or for him to say something. Sam was inherently difficult however, and did neither of the normal logical things, instead he looked at Lucifer’s mouth.

So, Lucifer looked at Sam’s mouth. 

It felt like the right thing to do.

Sam sat up slowly, sliding both of his hands to rest in the center of Lucifer’s chest. His tongue flicked out, wetting his lips as he brought his face close, which was as good as announcing his intentions out loud.

There were so many more reasons to tell Sam  _ no _ insteading of letting whatever was happening happen. Thankfully though, Lucifer didn’t have to find the courage to push the other man away, because he suddenly heard the very recognisable sound of his brother’s Jeep pulling into the driveway. 

“Son of a bitch,” Sam hissed under his breath, almost inaudibly as he got to his feet. 

Michael didn’t take long, opening the front door like he owned the place.

“You don’t live here anymore,” Lucifer called, mentally thanking his brother for the interruption―and at the same time feeling his chest go tight as a silent panic set in.

“Don’t, Lu,” his brother said in a tight voice. “Not tonight.”

Feeling a swell of emotion, he pushed his own feelings aside and sat up, cradling the sweater dog against his stomach. “Come here.”

Michael dropped the small bag he’d carried in, and made straight for the couch. “Did you maybe buy more Oreos?” He asked sinking down beside Lucifer and putting his head on his twin’s shoulder.

“Course I did,” Lucifer pulled an arm around Mike’s shoulders and looked up at Sam. “They’re in the back of the freezer. Could you?”

Nodding, a mess of emotions playing over his face before finally settling on worry, Sam hurried to the kitchen.

“You want me to go beat him up for you?” Lucifer whispered. 

Michael shook his head. 

“You want me to call him up and tell him he’s bad in bed?”

Another head shake.

“You want to eat cookies and tell me what a jerk he’s being?”

He nodded, then added, “And I want a drink.”

Sam got the pitiful sounding memo and joined them on the couch with the fresh Oreo package, and a bottle of not quite clear liquor that he held dubiously. “I don’t know what this is, but it smells sharp.”

Lucifer squinted at the bottle in question. “I think it’s tequila.”

“Why do you have tequila in an unmarked bottle in the freezer?” Sam asked rather pointedly.

“Because I confiscated it from Gabriel this summer. He was making bottles of margaritas for a camping trip and I had to tell him no.”

Michael shook his head and tore into the cookies. He twisted one open and ate the filling, passing one sad looking, frostingless cookie over to his brother, and then the second. This is how they always ate them―and Lu wondered if Mike had done the same with Sam the night before, or if he’d actually eaten his sad cookies like a normal person. 

“He called me  _ over dramatic _ ,” Michael said, pulling out and dissecting a second cookie. “Me! Please! I’m the least dramatic person in the world.”

Lucifer took the bottle from Sam before the kid could try any. It was a precautionary measure, and also something to do other than call bull shit on his brother. 

“He says I’m always looking for an argument―just because I told him last night that I didn’t want him bringing home some dog from work. I’ve got nothing against dogs, despite what Kelvin says. But we just got the floors done,  _ and  _ I also don’t want dirty little puppy feet on our blankets,” Michael took a third cookie, showing no signs of slowing, “Kelvin says it wouldn’t sleep in our bed, but it would. We all know it would. He’s the one that can’t say no. But I get to be some kind of heartless bastard because I don’t want a dog sleeping on my bed.” 

Protectively, Lucifer smoothed his hand over the secret dog in his sweater, suddenly understanding Kelvin’s insistence that Biscuit needed a foster home as soon as possible.

From the opposite side of the ranting man, Sam gave Lucifer a knowing look. Then, either very bravely, or very stupidly, he asked Mike, “What happened to you going home and talking to him tonight?”

“We  _ tried  _ talking, but then he mentioned how he was glad that I had Lu’s couch to sleep on, that he’d been worried about me, but he was  _ obviously  _ needling me about staying in my old bed with my old boyfriend and that just started a whole new argument that I wasn’t going to stay there for.” 

Lucifer would have bet money that until Michael confessed to it, Kelvin had had no idea what sort of indiscretions his boyfriend had drunkenly gotten up to after their fight. 

That was Michael though. He didn’t do guilt well, and nine times out of ten he’d confess to everything within seconds of confrontation.

“I told him he could get bent,” Michael snatched the bottle away and took a long drink, followed by some pained dry coughing. “Last night―last night he told me if I couldn’t stop acting like a dramatic bitch I could leave, and as far as I’m concerned we’re done.”

Pointedly taking back the bottle, Lucifer shook his head. He’d known Kelvin for a long time, and Kelvin simply wasn’t the kind of guy to get riled up and start calling people names. 

Michael on the other hand was the sort of person to get very dramatic and sensitive and supposedly hear things that people didn’t actually say. 

“Did he  _ really _ call you a dramatic bitch, or did he say something else but you know what he really meant?” Lucifer asked carefully.

“Don’t start getting how you always get,” Michael complained, stacking the frosting of two Oreos together and tossing the neglected cookies back into the package. “You’re supposed to be on my side.”

“I am on your side,” Lucifer kissed his brother’s temple. “I just want to make sure that if I’m sucker punching Kelvin it’s for what he  _ really _ said, and not just what you know he wanted to say.”

“Don’t hit him.”

“No?”

“No,” Michael pouted, for a moment looking honestly worried. “Please don’t.” He tucked his legs up underneath himself and put his head back on Lucifer’s shoulder. 

Biscuit popped his head out, sniffing at Michael, almost undoubtedly hoping this might be a new friend who also would share chicken with him.

Letting out a short and somewhat masculine scream, Michael sat up and demanded, “Tiny, why are you here?”

“His name is Biscuit now, and he resents you and you anal retentive cleanliness,” Lucifer protectively cradled the dog against his stomach.

“Lu, why?” Michael looked incredibly defeated, though irritation was quick to boil back up to the surface. “I’m gone for a whole week and you found the ugliest couch in the history of couches, and brought a dog home.”

“You don’t live here anymore,” Lucifer reminded in a sullen tone, quite positive that his brother wasn’t listening. 

“First off, you’re allergic. Second, you can’t take care of a dog. You work weird hours, you’re never going to take him on a walk, and where is he going to sleep?”

“In my bed―”

“You will crush him,” Mike said not as a warning, but like it was an absolute guarantee.

“I would never.”

“You sleep like the dead, Lu. You will roll over, crush that two pound dog, and not even notice until morning.”

“Ignore him, Biscuit,” Lucifer whispered down into his sweater, “I would never crush you. Never.”

“He can sleep in with me,” Sam offered suddenly.

Michael turned to look at the other man like this was the worst betrayal he could have imagined. “Not you too, Sam.”

He shrugged, reaching over Mike to scratch between Biscuit’s ears. “I like dogs.”

“Sam, I love that you love animals. You’re a very sweet and gentle person,” Michael sighed nosily, “but I’m  _ not _ sleeping with a dog in my bed.”

Tonight was supposed to be a night of comforting his brother, but Lucifer up spoke before he could remember that he shouldn’t. “It’s Sam’s bed now, Mike. You two aren’t dating anymore.”

As brothers went, they had a fairly healthy relationship, with a lot of forgiveness and a lot of allowance for bullshit. Unfortunately Mike was in a mood and that changed things.

“That didn’t make a difference to either of us last night, Lu,” Michael said with a meaningful look.

“Look, I put up with a lot, but I refuse to listen to you two having sex again.” He shook his head. As much as he’d hated when Sam vanished at the start of the summer, it had actually been a huge relief. 

“God, could you be more jealous?” Mike stole the bottle, taking a long drink and a sharp breath through his teeth. “The only way you could be more obvious is if you called dibs and just went ahead and licked him like you did with cookies when we were kids.”

A stone sank heavy in Lucifer’s stomach, and he felt his eyes go wide. He couldn’t look over at Sam, he could only stare at his brother in horror.

Apparently Mike was feeling a little extra spite in that moment, as he turned to Sam and said, “You wouldn’t believe the massive hard on he had for you when he first met you a year ago.”

“Oh,” was Sam’s very articulate response.

“Oh yeah,” Mike pushed off the couch, taking a handful of cookies and the tequila with him. “I guess he’s still got a bit of a crush on you, seeing how pissy he still gets every time I mention you and me.”

Lucifer had to make a conscious effort not to squeeze Biscuit between his hands, his hands and shoulders tight.

“But what do I know, I’m just an over dramatic bitch apparently,” Mike rolled his eyes at both the stunned looking men on the couch and walked off down the hall towards his old room, calling back, “You coming to bed, Sam?”

Lucifer felt slightly nauseous, which was a fun and unexpected response to his current high level of embarrassment. “He doesn’t handle tequila well.”

“I noticed that,” Sam replied in a tense tone. 

“You,” Lucifer cleared his throat, really looking hard at the carpet, “you can go to bed with Mike if you want. I’ve got my headphones and I won’t judge.”

“You serious?” Sam snorted softly. “I’m staying with you and the dog. Mike’s welcome to his old bed, but I’m not going to be in it if he’s acting like that.” 

Lucifer wished that he could feel happier about that, but it was way too soon to get over the crippling horror of what had just happened. “Wanna maybe watch a scary movie and pet the dog with me?”

“Fuck yeah,” Sam said with far too much enthusiasum, picking up the remote control and turning on Netflix. “But I’m not taking apart your cookies for you, you’re going to have to eat them whole, like an adult.”

“I think I can live with... that,” Lucifer trailed off as Sam slid down the couch to sit shoulder to shoulder with him while he browsed for a movie.

Sam hit play on a Korean flick about ghosts, and as the opening credits started to roll he quietly said, “Still kind of waiting for you to deny any of what your brother just said.” 

It took everything Lucifer had not to roll off the couch and go hide in his room. “Alright. I mean. This is sort of awkward for me, but I… I never licked any cookies to claim them. I’ve always preferred brownies.” He kept his eyes fixed on the movie’s subtitles. “I know it’s a bit of an unpopular opinion, but,” he shrugged, “it’s who I am. Sorry if it’s a deal breaker.”

“Is that the only correction you want to make?”

Lucifer prefered not to lie if he didn’t have to. He’d have prefered to just say nothing at all, but he could feel Sam slowly putting more and more weight against his side as he leaned closer.

“That was almost a year ago,” he finally said, his eyes still fixed on the TV screen even though he had absolutely no idea what was going on in the movie. “A lot of things can change in a year.”

Sam let out a breath that sounded like it had been held too long. “I mean, yeah, that’s fair.”

Before Lucifer could panic and say something even more stupid, Sam kept on talking. 

“I guess that makes it less weird for us both since I’m going to sleep in your bed with you and Biscuit tonight.”

“You are?” Lucifer turned to Sam, a bubble of horrified laughter catching in his throat.

“Yeah.” Sam grinned at him. “Someone has to make sure you don’t roll over and crush our fuzzy son.”

Trying not to be completely undone by the fact that the other man had obviously already adopted Biscuit on a deeply emotional level, Lucifer tried to summon up what he hoped sounded like mild skepticism as he asked, “And you’re volunteering to be that someone?”

“Well it sure as hell won't be your brother.” Sam gently unzipped Lucifer’s hoodie enough to find Biscuit’s face. He smoothed one of the dog’s ears between his fingers.

It would be so much easier to just let Sam think Michael was a heartless bastard.

But that wasn’t who Lucifer was.

“Don’t… don’t be too mad at Mike for being such a jackass. He’s never going to tell you, or apparently Kelvin, because he’d rather pretend it’s all about dirty puppy feet on his expensive bed sheets, but he’s actually pretty fucking scared of dogs.”

“No offence to our perfect little dog son,” Sam’s voice was soft and sweet as he spoke directly to Biscuit, “but you hardly qualify as a real dog, even with the most generous definition of the word.” 

“Yeah well, Mike doesn’t really make that distinction.” Lucifer almost felt bad for telling his brother’s secret, but he also didn’t want Sam holding this all against Michael. “He got bitten pretty bad when we were little. The neighbor's dog got him right around the face and he’s still got tiny teeth scars up along his scalp if you know where to look for them.”

Sam’s grinning, joking attitude vanished like a light going out. “I-I didn’t know.”

“And I’d prefer if you act like you still don’t, because he’ll rip me a new one if he finds out I told you.” Lucifer carefully scratched under the dog’s chin. “My brother likes to pretend he’s perfect, and it helps keep the peace between us if I don’t challenge it too often.”

“He’s,” Sam looked up from his affectionate puppy petting, “he’s not perfect.”

Lucifer almost felt guilty for the sudden surge of excitement he felt. “Oh, is this juicy gossip time?”

Sam pushed at him. “A gentleman doesn’t ask and a lady doesn’t tell.”

“Don’t even try that with me,” Lucifer chuckled, laughing harder than he intended, his head falling heavy on Sam’s shoulder. “Come on, I deserve a good pick me up after my brother basically just read you a page from my diary. Have some pity.”

The long look that Sam gave him was complicated, but slowly settled into a funny little smile. Then the jerk kissed Lucifer’s cheek and sat back. 

Sam started talking, but Lucifer missed nearly all of it as he sat there dumbly and fought down a bout of nervous laughter. 

“―which, for me, absolutely kills the mood every time, but he still does it and just expects me to start right back where we left off.” Sam finished with a sideways glance back at the hallway. 

Coming out of a very small emotional crisis, Lucifer found his voice and asked, “He does  _ what _ ?”

“Right?” Sam laughed, agreeing and not understanding.

Deciding that it would be detrimental to try and explain that he’d been momentarily too damn flustered to use his ears, Lucifer could only shake his head and smile. 

“Please tell me that’s not an  _ every _ guy thing,” Sam took a couple cookies from the package and sat back, “because I swear if the next man I’m with answers his phone during sex I’m just going to become straight.” 

Lucifer snorted and it scared Biscuit, the dog vanishing into the depths of his sweater. It was hard to apologize and laugh, but he managed―all while making a mental note to give his brother a hard time once he was feeling better. 

Because who the hell answers their phone during sex? 

“Sam, you are a saint for dating him as long as you did.” He shook his head, stealing one of the other man’s cookies. “I love my brother but he’s got his priorities all sorts of mixed up.”

“They were work calls if that makes it better?” Sam offered awkwardly, like he felt somehow obligated to defend his friend.

“Oh my god, that makes it  _ worse _ ,” Lucifer laughed.

Sam elbowed him.

“Sorry,” he shook his head, still grinning. “Sorry, but also thank you. I needed a good laugh.”

“Glad my sex life can bring you so much amusement,” Sam rolled his eyes, leaning forward to take a cookie and poorly hide a smile. “Speaking of, I think I should go check in on the most dramatic man in the world.”

It hadn’t been all that long since Michael had sulked off down the hall, and Lucifer had some reservations about letting Sam go. However, Sam was an adult and free to do whatever he wanted, even if it was an obviously bad idea.

He shifted and tried not to frown, asking, “Should I wait up for you, or you think you’ll stay the night in there with him?”

Sam slowly chewed his cookie, his eyebrows low and annoyed. Finally he said, “Already told you I’m sleeping with you and Biscuit tonight.”

“I know,” Lucifer smoothed a hand over the dog resting against his stomach. “But I’ve stayed friends with quite a few exes, and held their hands when they’re upset, and… and ended up back in bed with more of them than I should have. Not judging if you do. I mean, whatever happens happens, right? Just wondering if you want me to leave the light on for you.” He said it all in an awkward rush that he hoped the other man didn’t pick up on. 

There was obvious irritation in Sam’s eyes, little dark spots in the hollow of his cheeks and he clenched his jaw. 

Expecting a wave of teenage sass, Lucifer braced himself, and ended up jumping when Sam kissed his cheek again and whispered, “You’re such a jerk sometimes.”

“Yeah,” Lucifer said uneasily.

Sam sat back, looking at him for an uncomfortably long time before asking, “You end up in bed with a lot of your friends?”

That was not a question that Lucifer felt good about answering right at that moment, so he stubbornly kept his mouth shut. 

Nodding, as if the silence had been an answer, the younger man stood. “Well, I’m still planning to sleep next to Biscuit if that’s fine, or I’ll sleep here on the couch.” He folded his arms, stubborn and difficult as always. “But I’m  _ not  _ staying with Michael tonight. Ok?”

Lucifer nodded slowly, unable to shake the slightly nervous feelings he had with Sam standing over him. “Then I’ll leave the light on for you,” he offered in the most casual way he could manage with the other man’s knees brushing against his own.

“Thank you,” Sam grinned for just a moment, a little flash of teeth before he headed off down the hall mumbling, “Wish me luck.”

With a deep sigh, he looked down at the tiny dog head peeking out of his sweater. “We need to keep an eye on that one,” Lucifer whispered. “He’s trouble.”


	27. Chapter 27

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As the world around us keeps on being grim and uncertain, can I offer you a chapter with kissing?  
I feel like we've all earned a chapter with some dumb boys smooching
> 
> and as a small additional offering, I've started working on the next chapter of Northern Hymn, so for those of you waiting with endless patience for some spooky story, I can tell you you'll be seeing it soon-ish (hopefully)

He wasn't sure why it surprised him that Luci had literally left a light on for him. Sam had just assumed that the offer had been really more of a metaphor than an actual plan. There were times that the other man’s actions were downright charming, whether he intended them that way or not. 

“Hey,” Sam called softly, pressing his hand against the stolen STOP sign nailed to the outside of Lucifer’s room, the door swinging open. With a startled laugh, he asked the man sprawled over the bed, “You two planning to sleep like that?”

Lucifer lowered his phone, peering over the small dog that was stretched out along his chest and throat. “If that’s what he wants.”

“Looks super comfortable,” Sam laughed and sat on the edge of the bed.

One corner of his mouth hooked up, crooked and cute. “Eh, he’s warm and soft and I’m not going to complain.”

Sam reached over, running his fingers down the skinny little dog’s back, feeling the indents of his ribs and spine. A cherry red cast made Biscuit’s back left leg dangle heavy and useless over Lucifer’s shoulder. “Is he going to be ok?”

“Oh yeah,” Lucifer promised, his smile twitching as the dog raised its head to look at the humans. “Give him a month or two and he’ll be out of this cast and running circles around us both. Hey, how did it go with my brother?”

“Fine,” Sam blew off the question to focus on more important things. “Do we know what kind of dog he is?”

A small frown started to creep in. “Some kind of terrier. That wasn’t really an answer to my question. How’s Mike?”

Complicated. 

Mike was complicated.

Sam shook his head, not sure where to start. “He… he’s still on the phone with Kelvin, so I guess he’s slowly getting better.”

“How the hell did you get him on the phone?”

“I stole his phone, called his boyfriend up, and put the phone in Mike’s hands.”

Lu lay there looking up at him like a stranger. “That easy?”

It had been anything other than easy, but Sam grinned and left out the fact that he’d found the man’s brother sitting on the floor, hugging his knees, looking on the verge of tears. Sam also pointedly didn’t mention that he’d told Mike that Lucifer had sold him out. 

“He just needed a hug and someone to talk to for a bit,” Sam finally said, offering a smile in place of any in-depth answer. 

“You’re like some kind of terrorist negotiator,” Lucifer snorted, shaking his head and looking thoroughly impressed, “I swear to god. I need to keep you around for the next time he decides his heart is broken. I never seem to know what he needs to hear.”

“Yeah, well hopefully that won’t be anytime soon.” Sam relaxed, laying down and stretching out. He’d stayed back in his room long enough to make sure that Michael and Kelvin were talking about the important things that  _ needed _ to be talked about. There was only so much moral support that Sam could provide, after that it was all up to the unhappy couple to sort things out on their own. 

“How does it feel being a relationship counselor to your ex and his new boy?”

Sam cringed. “It’s a job I am definitely not qualified for.”

“You’re doing fine,” Lucifer waved it off, handing over his phone and pointing to the charging cable on the nightstand. 

“Yeah?” Sam took the phone and sat up, fiddling with the cord.

“Oh yeah. I’m thinking of having you help out with my next bad relationship.”

Even knowing that the other man was joking, quiet hope got Sam asking, “Should I be getting ready for that any time soon?”

Lucifer made a dismissive sound. “Cas and I are doing fine. I haven’t screwed it up just yet,  _ but  _ I’ll be sure to update you when I do.”

Having a crush on a guy wasn’t about to override Sam’s much deeper need to be a good friend. “Oh, shut up,” he lay back down, hooking an ankle over Lucifer’s. “You’re awesome.”

“Well, yeah,” Lucifer chuckled before kissing the small puppy feet on his face as Biscuit tried to stand up. “But, you know, if there’s one thing me and my brother have in common it’s having a fucking terrible track record when it comes to relationships. Yes we do,” he continued kissing dog feet, whispering, “we really, really do. Yes.”

Biscuit’s tails started to slowly wag as it snuffled the man’s face and continued trying to climb Lu like a mountain.

A grin spilt Sam’s face, all his thoughts going soft and happy for a few moments as he lay there watching his friend being aggressively adorable. 

“Ok,” with a snort and a quick jerk of his head, Lucifer lifted Biscuit up. “No thank you. I don’t want the inside of my nose licked.”

The puppy was set back down, oh so gently, on the mattress between them, and Lucifer used the sleeve of his T-shirt to wipe his nose.

Smiling, Sam offered a hand to Biscuit, letting the dog sniff his fingers before lightly starting to chew on them. Glancing over at his friend, he asked, “So… worst relationship so far?”

Lucifer closed one eye, looking somehow thoughtful as he continued to rub his nose on his shirt. “I can only pick one?”

Sam nodded.

“Then I will go with Kate. Met her senior year of highschool. She stole my cat.”

“ _ What _ ?”

“There was this neighborhood stray cat I’d been feeding for a while. It vanished one day and Kate convinced me that she’d seen it on the side of the road, hit by a car. Then months later, her younger brother tells me that Kate hadn’t liked how much attention I’d been paying to the cat, so she took it, drove it a few towns over and dumped it.”

Sam wanted to believe this was a joke, but Lu wasn’t grinning. “Yikes.”

“Yikes is right.” He nodded, rolling on to his side and petting Biscuit. “How about you? Worst relationship?”

“Well, I think I’m required to say your brother, but only because he’s still the only person I’ve ever dated.”

“I thought you spent this summer loving up on all the single ladies of Kansas.”

That got a rough laugh out of Sam. “No. I wasn’t  _ loving up _ much of anyone.”

“Thought you got to touch a boob.”

Heat curled in Sam’s chest, creeping up his neck. “So, there was one girl, one night, but I wouldn’t exactly call it a whole relationship.”

“Ah, random hookups,” Lucifer nodded almost wistfully. “As fun as they are, yeah, you’re right. They don’t actually count. I guess I’d just assumed if you were doing any fooling around it was after a few dates.”

Sam wasn’t really sure how to feel about that. He could be embarrassed, or offended, but ended up shrugging it off. 

“You just seem like a guy who takes his time,” Lucifer reached over and pushed hair from Sam’s face. “You really need a trim.”

Grumbling, Sam accepted the change in subject, batting the other man’s hand away. “I like it like this.”

“Your hair, your choice, but I’m going to be over here daydreaming about taking scissors to it when you’re asleep.”

“That is possibly the weirdest threat I’ve ever had. Thank you,” Sam laughed, shifting and hooking a second ankle over Lucifer’s. 

“You, um, you ready to go to sleep?”

“Sure.”

Lucifer lay there quietly, watching Sam with an oddly uncertain look before asking, “You want to get the light or should I?”

That would mean one of them getting off the bed and Sam hated that idea. “We can just leave it on,” he offered, immediately realizing how stupid it sounded.

“I can’t sleep with the lights on, Sammy, and people who can, scare me.” He made a face and sat up. He got off the bed, moving very mindfully of Biscuit, and in contrast he crawled over Sam in the most awkwardly stumbling way possible, all arms and legs and what seemed like far more touching than needed.

Sam lay there quietly, watching the other man until the light went out, anticipation coiling in his gut as he listened to his friend come back to bed.

“Do you have the dog?” Lucifer asked, his weight making the edge of the bed dip. “I don’t want to crush him.”

“Yeah, just a second,” Sam said as he felt his way through the dark, waiting for his eyes to adjust. With one hand he scooped up Biscuit, and with the other he pushed against his friend’s leg. “Ok. You’re good.” 

Lucifer used Sam’s hand like a guide, fingers curling around his wrist to steady himself as he gingerly crawled back to his side of the bed.

“I know it’s a little late to point this out,” Sam said slowly, finding a smile when he noticed that the other man was still holding his wrist, “but you could have come up over the foot of the bed. It might have been a little less awkward.”

“Shit,” Lucifer hissed under his breath, concern in his soft whisper, “did I hurt you? I-I was trying to be careful.”

Sam released the wriggling puppy, reaching over to rest his hand against Lucifer’s chest. “No. You’re fine.” It had just suddenly and uncomfortably occurred to Sam how this all might have looked to anyone watching them. 

Thankfully the only one else in the room was Biscuit, and the little dog wasn’t about to judge if the two men had crossed a line in what was or wasn’t a socially acceptable amount of touching between two platonic friends. 

Against his better judgment, Sam heard himself asking, “Is your boyfriend going to be ok with me sleeping in here?”

“Cas?” Lucifer let out a sharp breath. “Yeah, he’s fine with it.”

“Ok, I just didn’t want you getting in trouble,” Sam hardly opened his mouth while he spoke, muttering with a tone that was undoubtedly petulant. “I’m just remembering a few days ago, back when Dean was here, and you told me very seriously that your boyfriend wasn’t going to understand this sort of thing.”

Lucifer’s thumb traced slow lines up and down the pulse in Sam’s wrist. “That was before. I texted him while you were with Michael. Cas wasn’t to come by this weekend and meet the puppy, and he’s happy you’re helping keep it safe.”

Goosebumps crept up and down Sam’s arms. “That’s… that’s good. Good that he gets that there’s nothing weird going on.”

“He knows that we’re just friends.”

“Does he know,” Sam cleared his throat, very thankful for the dark to hide in while he asked, “does he know about how you apparently had it real bad for me back when we first met?”

“Wow, I’d really been hoping that you were willing to just let that go.”

“It’s not every day you hear that one of your best friends apparently, what did Mike say, had a massive hard-on for me?”

“Oh my god.”

“Mike’s words. Not mine.”

“Yeah, well, my brother can be a real dick when he’s upset about one of his boyfriends,” Lucifer whispered in the dark. “I just hope you get that those were legitimately Mike’s words. Not mine. I never said any of that crap to him.”

Sam pulled one of his hands back, curling it around the puppy that was burrowing against his throat. He grinned to himself, at the wet dog nose under his chin, and at the fact that Lucifer still hadn’t denied that at least, at some point, he’d found Sam attractive. 

He wondered if this is how Dean felt most of the time. This confidant, buoyant feeling, knowing that he was at least half as cute as felt.

Unprompted, Lucifer added on in a soft voice, “But I might have mentioned to him that you were a gangly ass kid with a nice smile, and that before you puked up everything you’d been drinking at that party, that you smelled nice… I don’t really remember though. It was a long time ago.”

Sam lay there, startled and happy, grinning up at the dark ceiling. “How are you so good at this?”

“At what, making an ass out of myself?”

“No, at…” Sam sighed, still smiling, “at complimenting someone in a way that feels almost like I’ve also been insulted.”

“Sorry,” Lu gave his arm a light squeeze, still not letting go. “I didn’t mean to let the compliment slip in. You were a gross mess and you almost barfed in my truck. Holy fuck, I don’t know why I even still let you hang out with me after all that, now that you mention it.”

“Thank you.”

Lucifer chuckled, this rich, warm sound that Sam wanted to bottle up and keep.

He looked over at his friend, just barely able to make out a playful grin through the dim light that snuck in around the curtains. 

“Good night, Lu” he said through a sudden wave of nerves.

“Yeah. alright,” he gave Sam’s wrist another squeeze before finally letting him go. “Good night, Sammy.”

Tucking Biscuit up safely in the little space between the bed’s two pillows, Sam pushed himself up onto an elbow before leaning over his friend and kissing him softly.

Lucifer audibly caught his breath, growing very still. His breath was faintly flavored like peppermint as he asked, “What are you doing?”

“Just kissing you goodnight... like friends do,” Sam lied, very badly.

Lying very still, Lucifer sighed, “Ok, but I did apologize for that.”

“I’m not angry about you kissing me goodnight when you were drunk,” Sam said, doing his best to hold back that frustrated feeling welling up inside him. “After this summer, having to watch my brother and his supposedly straight friends, constantly smacking each other’s asses, and joking about giving each other blow jobs, I get that there’s a lot of… this sort of thing between friends, and I like it.”

“Sam, that is  _ not _ how you kiss your friend goodnight,” he lectured softly, “not even with  _ all _ the homoerotic joking in the world.”

“No?”

“It’s really not.”

Sam was fully aware of this, but refused to back down.

“You want to kiss a friend good night? It’s this,” Lucifer sat up just enough to brush Sam’s cheek with his lips. 

It was soft and very sweet, and not at all what he was looking for.

“Oh,” he whispered. “So you mean more like,” Sam pushed forward, fitting his mouth over his friend’s for a second time. 

Lucifer took an almost pained sounding breath as Sam slowly pulled back. “Wow. No. Were you even paying attention?”

“Was that not right?”

“It was even more wrong than the first time. You suck at this.”

“I guess I wasn’t paying attention,” Sam licked his lips, enjoying this horrible game they were playing. “Would you mind showing me again?”

“You think you’re so damn cute, don’t you?” Lu grumbled.

Sam grinned, because yes, he was. 

Lucifer sat up, and Sam retreated with a nervous laugh that died with a whimper in his throat as the other man caught him by the jaw, his long fingers startlingly warm. 

“See, I’m over here doing this,” Lucifer ghosted a kiss over Sam’s cheek, “and you’re doing this instead,” he kissed Sam slowly, lingering, teeth grazing his lower lip before pulling away. “It’s not even fucking close.”

“So,” Sam’s heart was in his throat, “more like,” he lightly kissed his friend’s cheek, “and less,” whispering the question as he turned his head the fraction of an inch needed to catch the other man’s mouth with his own.

Deliciously, Lucifer kissed back, only for a breath, agonizingly slow, before very suddenly pulling away. He patted Sam’s cheek a little harder than expected. “Yup. You got it. Just like that.”

Sam lay there, propped up on one elbow, feeling stunned and breathless as the other man rolled over to face the wall and called over his shoulder, “Good night.”

With a slowly blooming grin, Sam lay back, folding his hands over his stomach. With his heart hammering against his ribs, and nervous laughter threatening to spill out any moment, Sam whispered back, “Good night.” 


	28. Chapter 28

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter here in no way means I'm not still tappity tapping away and A Northern Hymn. This is a backlogged chapter I finished a while back that I suddenly realized I hadn't posted yet.  
Hope you're ready for another chapter with awkward cuddles and a good pupper

Dean’s laughter skirted that odd line between amused and disappointed.

“You don’t get it,” Sam rolled his eyes, shifting his book bag as he passed his phone from one hand to the other.

“Oh no, I get it,” Dean snorted through his chuckles. “You-you're saying... he gave you a  _ demonstration  _ of how  _ not  _ to kiss a friend. And that was only his ‘residual attraction’ for you acting up, right? Yeah. Sure. He’s totally not into you.” Dean whistled long and low, pushing out any last traces of amusement before demanding, “Holy fuck, Sam, you're supposed to be the smart one.”

“Shut up.”

“Seriously, how are we even related?”

Sam had left the house in such an outstanding mood that morning, a bounce in his step as he walked himself to school. He’d hardly made it more than a block from home before he absolutely couldn't contain himself any longer and had to call his brother.

Two blocks later and he was wishing that he’d tried a little harder to contain himself.

“But, yeah,” Dean snickered, “good for you, getting a dog an' all."

Sam scuffed his shoes while he walked, looking up at the heavy grey clouds that had rolled in overnight. If he was lucky he’d make it to his first class before rain started to fall. He probably should have woken Lu or Michael and asked for a ride. 

“Ok, but you know I’ve always wanted a dog, and Biscuit is perfect.”

“First off, those pictures you sent me this morning, yeah, your perfect  _ Biscuit _ looks like a rat with stilt legs. Second, isn’t your boyfriend just taking care of him until his leg’s better?”

“He’s not my boyfriend.” Sam had never been all that good at lying to his brother, and he was glad that Dean was hundreds of miles away and couldn’t see the way the teasing made him squirm. 

“Sorry. I forget you guys aren’t actually dating, you just make out sometimes,” Dean clarified in the most obnoxious way he could. 

“We don’t.” Those few kisses last night hardly qualified as anything other than very strange teasing―regardless of what Dean thought, and regardless of what feelings Sam might be trying to brush under the rug. “He’s got a boyfriend. Lu and me, we’re friends. I’m happy we’re friends. Don’t try and make it weird.”

“Dude, I’m not the one making it weird. That’s all you two.”

“ _ Just _ friends.” 

“Yeah, well, hate to be the bearer of bad news, Sammy, but your  _ friend  _ is cheating on his boyfriend with you.”

Sam made an indignant noise.

Then proceed to not hear a single thing that his brother said as the uncomfortable reality of Dean’s words started to sink in. 

Months ago he’d been furious with Michael for cheating on him. For flirting with someone else, for falling in love with someone else. And he’d been just as mad at Kelvin. What sort of son of bitch flirts with someone who’s in a happy relationship with someone else?

Sam was that sort of son of a bitch. 

He’d been flirting with his friend.

And not in a joking way like he wanted to pretend, because he knew full well that if Lucifer had asked him Sam would have said yes. He would have yelled and moaned yes until his throat was horse. He would have pressed a hundred yesses into his friend’s mouth until both their lips were bruised, and he would have loved every moment of it.

That realisation was enough to stop Sam right there on the sidewalk. 

“Oh.”

“Oh?” Dean’s voice rang in his ear.

“Oh no.”

Letting out a defeated sigh, his brother asked, “What’s wrong now?”

“I… I like him.”

“No shit.”

“No, like… I like him a lot.”

“Are you kidding me with this?” Dean laughed. “You just noticing for the first time, Sammy? Because I’ve got to say, you’re really late to this party.”

“Do you think he knows?”

“I’d say it’s pretty damn obvious. But who knows, he might be just as much of a dumbass as you and maybe he hasn’t noticed you drooling over him.”

“How do I turn it off?”

“It’s not a light switch, Sammy.” A hint of pity had entered his brother’s voice and that was the worst. “It’s called being human. Best advice I can offer is the same advice I was trying to sell you all summer. You want to stop thinking about someone, go out there and find someone else to occupy that busy brain of yours.”

“Sure. Soon as I’m done with class I’ll just swing by the ‘ _ boyfriend store _ ’ and pick myself out one of the shiny new models.”

“They call them bars, or student unions, or fuck it you could even try the library, you big nerd.”

“Asking someone out isn’t like picking up a new book to read.”

“Why the hell not?” Dean demanded. 

Sam frowned, hating that he didn’t have a good answer to that.

“Alright, you’re on your way to school, right?”

Sam grunted in agreement, walking a little faster.

“Then here’s a bit of extra homework for you, you big nerd. You are going to ask someone out today.” Dean instructed like he had any authority at all. 

“I think I’ll pass.”

“By tonight I’m expecting a call or a text that you’ve got yourself a hot little date lined up.”

“Dean,” Sam sighed.

“If you don’t then I’m setting up a tinder profile for you and I’ll start sending all kinds of hot ass your way.”

“Don’t.”

“I will give out your number to every hot guy in California until you are swimming in unsolicited dick pics.”

A threat that would be far more intimidating if Dean wasn’t almost completely computer illiterate.

Stepping on to campus, he took a quick glance around at his fellow students. He didn’t even know where to start. Even with his brother’s ‘help’ over the summer, Sam wasn’t really sure where to start. 

“I’m not making any promises,” he shook his head, “but I’ll try. Ok?”

“You’re a Winchester, Sammy. The second hottest one there is. You were made to break hearts. You’ve got this. Go out there and make me proud.”

Dean wasn’t going to win any awards for his pep talks, but he could make Sam smile.

“I said I’ll  _ try _ .” Sam repeated. 

“That’s the spirit.”

Rolling his eyes, he told his brother, “I’ve got to go. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Later tonight, with good news.”

Making promises he didn’t plan to keep, Sam got off the phone and tried to push it all out of his mind. All of Dean’s teasing. The way that Lu had tasted. How he’d woken up with the other man curled against his back, warm breath tickling his neck.

Between the near hourly texts of puppy pictures and a very long phone call with Michael during lunch, Sam really didn’t have time to take stock of his classmates and find someone to ask out. 

By the time he made it to the library for his evening shift, he’d nearly forgotten all about his brother’s threats. In fact he’d managed to ignore pretty much everything other than the fact that as much as he wanted to do nothing more than curl up on the couch with his roommate and their dog as soon as he got off work, he really needed to get started on an essay that was due early next week. 

“I switched shifts with Emily,” Castiel announced as he came into the staff room, nearly making Sam jump out of his skin while he struggled with the knotted lanyard he’d clipped his work ID to.

With a nervous laugh, Sam nodded and offered the other man a smile. “Hi, Cas.” He had no idea who Emily was, but the library was always understaffed at nights, so Sam hadn’t had much of a chance to meet most of his coworkers over the last year.

“I wanted a chance to work with you.”

Though Sam kept his smile in place, there was a feeling of dread that settled quickly into his stomach along with the guilty thought of ‘ _ he knows _ ’. Not that there was a reason that Castiel should know about the very platonic, joking around, in no way flirting, kisses between Sam and Lucifer from the night before. 

Like neither of them had anything in the world to feel guilty about, Castiel continued talking, “Since you are Luci’s roommate it would be nice for you and I to become friends, or at least better acquainted.”

Sam finally sorted out the knots and pulled his ID on over his head. “Yeah. Sure. That sounds like a good idea.” It sounded like a terrible idea. In fact, becoming friends with this man almost guaranteed a world of guilt opening up to Sam. “He said you might come over this weekend to meet the puppy.”

“I would love to meet Biscuit. Luci’s been sending me pictures of him all day.” Castiel grinned, and it was as surprising as it was awkward, and though it did nothing for Sam he was still willing to admit that the guy was sort of cute. 

Worse than just sort of cute, he was also a dream to work with. Organized, fast, and efficient. In the year that Sam had worked in the library he couldn’t remember any other night that the mountain of books behind the counter was sorted through and put away so quickly.

They were standing in the rain, outside the locked library before midnight, and Sam didn’t know what to do with that kind of extra time suddenly added on to his evening. 

“Luci told me that you usually walk home,” Castiel said in a very off handed way, looking up at the sky, rain pattering over his face.

Sam nodded, touching his phone through his pocket and wondering if he should call an Uber.

“It’s not a good night to walk home.” Castiel looked over at Sam and left really no room to argue as he said, “I’m going to give you a ride.”

He’d never really liked being told what to do, but he also didn’t want to be soaking wet by the time he made it back to the house. He should have brought an umbrella. Sighing, and trying to smile, he teased, “You’re just looking for an excuse to come to our place and meet Biscuit, aren’t you?”

“Am I that transparent?” Castiel asked, blinking water from his eyes.

“Yeah, but Biscuit is a really good dog so I can’t blame you.” It irritated Sam how easy it was to relate to Lucifer’s boyfriend. 

Cas had never been to their house, and for some stupid reason Sam very nearly wanted to refuse to give the man directions like somehow keeping the other man away just a little longer would help preserve whatever was going on between Sam and Lucifer. 

With a frown, he realised that feeling was jealousy. 

But Castiel dating Lu didn’t somehow magically negate Sam and Lu’s friendship, and since friendship was all that they currently had, Sam flatly refused to be jealous.

“Which way did you park?”

Not surprisingly, Castiel had a very clean car, and he drove annoyingly safe despite the fact that there was zero traffic this time of night. 

“I think it’s usual for friends to have shared interests,” Cas said as he came to a full and complete stop at a four way intersection, eyes narrowed as he squinted into the gloom to double and triple check that there were no other cars waiting at the stop signs. “Lucifer does seem to enjoy talking about you, but so far the only thing I can tell that you and I have in common is that we like him.”

“I don’t li―” Sam bit his tongue, realising how guilty he was about to sound if he followed through with that train of thought. He scrambled to save himself. “I don’t... know all that much about you. Other than that you work at the library too.”

“I am very fond of books, specifically the classics. I think if I hadn’t gone into psychology I’d have been very happy to be a librarian.”

“What type of psychology?”

“Forensic.” He glanced sideways at Sam. “Usually when I tell people that, they usually start asking me questions about serial killers, but it’s typically not that exciting. It’s mostly reading case studies, which I don’t mind at all. I find the human mind fascinating.”

“I had to take a psychology class last year. It was pretty interesting.” 

“It’s a shame that it’s not required for all students. I feel we would all benefit if everyone was required to take classes like psychology, basic biology, cooking, human sexuality…” he trailed off, getting a small frown.

Sam frowned too.

“Is it this street or the next one?”

“Next.” Sam had been surprised when they’d first got in the car and Castiel had asked for the full directions from school to home, and then proceeded to actually remember all the turns and street names up until the very end. 

Castiel made the turn, picking back up talking right where he’d left off. “Speaking of human sexuality―what was Michael like in bed?”

Since that was not at all where Sam had thought this conversation was headed, he found himself stunned into horrified silence. 

“I only ask, because a classmate of mine has a theory that siblings who are emotionally close would have a similar love language and ways of showing physical affection, but I think she’s wrong. How people express themselves at their most vulnerable is incredibly unique and personal. Lucifer and his brother are the only twins that I have met, so they seem like they could be a fair case study...though I haven't actually met Michael. For all I know they could be polar opposites.”

Though Sam understood the words being said to him, he couldn’t seem to form any kind of answer.

“I’ve made you uncomfortable,” Castiel said like it was some sort of revelation he’d just had. “I apologise. I’ve been told that I am far too blunt at times. Which is one of the reasons that I decided on forensic psychology instead of something that might have me working directly with people.” 

Sam thought to himself that that might have been a very wise choice. “It’s… it’s the one up here on the left.”

“Do you think it will be alright if I park in the driveway? I don’t plan to stay very long.”

“Yeah,” Sam gestured towards the house and the empty space beside Lucifer’s truck. “No one else parks there.” 

“I wasn't sure.” Castiel pulled into the driveway. “I’d heard that Michael had been sleeping over the past few nights after a fight with his boyfriend.” 

Sam decided that he didn’t care if Castiel knew everything there was to know in the world about Michael. All the things that Lucifer wanted to overshare about his twin was a problem between brothers. It did bother Sam however to realise that he might also be included in that circle of oversharing. He had no idea what sorts of things Lu might have shared with his boyfriend, and that made Sam incredibly uncomfortable. 

He got out of the car before the engine shut off, sprinting through the rain and up to the porch. 

Before he could even get his keys out, before Castiel even made it up the driveway, the front door opened. 

Lucifer grinned one of his little half grins, leaning on the doorframe. “You’re home early.”

“I am,” Sam shook water from his hair, trying not to enjoy how good his roommate looked in just sweats and a thin t-shirt. “And I brought company.”

Making a face, Lu looked over Sam’s shoulder, leaning to the side to peer at the driveway. His pale eyes went wide and a very different little smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. “Aw, Sammy, you shouldn’t have.”

“I’ve come to pet your puppy,” Castiel announced, joining them on the porch. 

“Yeah. I bet you did.” Lu chuckled and stepped back, holding the door wide so the other men could come inside. “Biscuit’s sleeping in a little nest next to the couch.”

Sam wanted to point out that dogs don’t sleep in nests, but he could clearly see one of his flannel shirts had been curled into a plaid doughnut and Biscuit was snoozing peacefully in the center. 

He set down his backpack and looked over at Lucifer. “Why my shirt?”

“You left it in my room, and he seems to like the smell. He’s been sleeping with it all day.” Lu grinned, gently nudging Sam’s side before trailing after Castiel to go sit on the couch and join in admiring the puppy.

“Oh no,” Castiel was whispering as he knelt on the floor beside the dog. “He’s even more perfect in person.”

“You can pet him,” Lu softly encouraged, sitting on the edge of the couch.

“I can wait for him to wake up. I wouldn’t want a stranger petting me while I was sleeping.”

“Alright, weirdo,” Lucifer chuckled again, leaning over and kissing the side of Castiel’s head. “God, you’re soaking wet. Did you swim here?”

Sam decided he didn’t want to stand there and witness the other men flirting. It made his whole ‘don’t be jealous’ plan a little too difficult. So, he went to his room and changed into a dry set of clothes, smiling at the fact that Michael had made the bed before leaving this morning. And it wasn’t that his room was ever very dirty, but Mike had definitely tidied up the place.

Texting a picture of the perfectly smoothed out blankets, Sam added a little ‘thank you :)’ and sent it to his ex.

Mike sent back a kiss emoji and an apology that he hadn’t been able to help himself. Apparently the sheets and pillow cases had been changed too, because he didn’t think it was fair to Sam to leave the bed smelling like his ex.

Sam smiled and shook his head at the phone, quietly appreciating the thoughtfulness, even if it was a little much. 

He was half tempted to simply stay put, to go to bed early for once, but he was too worried what the men out in the front room might get up to if they weren’t supervised. 

Which seemed stupid at first, but apparently it was a fairly well founded concern, seeing as Sam came down the hall and got an eyeful of the very possessive way that Castiel kissed Lu. In the few minutes it had taken Sam to change clothes, the dark haired man had pushed his way between Lucifer’s knees, tangled his hands in Lucifer’s hair, and looked to be attempting to devour the other man from the mouth down.

“Oh,” Sam said loud enough to interrupt the moment. “Sorry. Don’t mind me. I’m just grabbing my books… and Biscuit.”

He didn’t feel even remotely guilty when the other two men pulled apart, he did however feel a pang of irritation at the way that Castiel cutely hid his face against Lucifer’s chest.

“You headed to bed?” Lu asked, looking up with a smile, his hands resting comfortably at the small of his boyfriend’s back. 

“Going to get some homework done. Snuggle with my furry son.” Sam shouldered his backpack before gently scooping up Biscuit. The dog stirred, raising his head to sniff at Sam’s shirt, wagging sleepily. “You two crazy kids have a good night, and thanks for the ride home, Cas.”

Castiel raised his head from Lucifer’s chest, his cheeks bright red with embarrassment that didn’t color his voice. “You are very welcome. Thank you for being such a treat to work with, Sam. I enjoyed our conversation.”

The two of them had hardly spoken at all, and the things they had said hardly could qualify as any kind of good conversation. 

“Yeah,” Sam nodded, cradling the dog against his chest. “Good night, Cas. Lu...”

“You keeping our son tonight?” Lucifer asked, smiling up at Sam, looking so natural and comfortable and like none of this was at all awkward. 

And of course it wasn’t. 

Sam and he were just friends.

There was no history between them that would make it strange or uncomfortable if they made a lot of eye contact while one of them was holding their new boyfriend in a compromising way.

“If it’s ok with you, yeah.” Sam rocked from side to side, very gently, trying to stay focused on Biscuit and not think about the fact that his brother had been very right. Sam was in desperate need of a good distraction before he made himself crazy. 

Lu reached out, waiting with wiggling fingers, until Sam brought their dog close enough for the other man to pet good night. “Ok. You two take care of each other. See you in the morning, Sammy.”

“It’s still just  _ Sam _ ,” he corrected, instantly hating the surprised look his friend gave him. Trying to soften the feelings boiling in his stomach, he smiled. “Good night,  _ Lu _ .”

Laughing softly, Lucifer stuck his tongue out at Sam.

Not at all liking the new feeling that was suddenly thrown into the mix, Sam retreated with his books and his dog and shut himself into the safety of his room. 

“Oh, Biscuit,” he whispered conspiratorially to the dog as he set it on the bed, “I bet they’re just out there kissing away again like it’s no big deal. Like he wasn’t kissing me last night.”

The dog didn’t seem to have any feelings on the matter, sniffing around on the mattress, scooting on his belly as he still hadn’t realised he could use his three perfectly good legs to walk.

“And I am doing this to myself,” Sam admitted to the dog, running his hands through his still damp hair. “This sucks and I want to uninstall these feelings. You know how to do that, Biscuit? You know how to do a nice little factory reset on all this mess?” 

If Biscuit knew, he wasn’t sharing. 

Defeated, Sam sat on the edge of the bed and pulled out his debate textbook and a highlighter and settled in. 

**.:.**

Being licked by a puppy was somehow the best and worst way to wake up. Confused and disoriented, Sam settled a hand over the warm little ball of fuzz laying against his chest.

“Hey,” he yawned, turning his head to keep his open mouth far from Biscuit’s curious nose. “Why are we awake? What time is it?” 

According to his phone it was about five thirty. 

Also according to his phone he had one missed call from his brother, and eight texts. 

With another yawn and a feeling that he was in no way ready for this, Sam got out of bed, scooping up the dog and taking his phone with him out to the backyard. 

He set the puppy down in the grass, figuring that this is why Biscuit had felt a need to wake him up before the sun. 

The texts from his brother were just shy of threatening, and quickly went downhill from there. Apparently when Sam had failed to answer his phone last night, leaving it on silent while he was at work, Dean had decided that Sam had chickened out of looking for a date. And, being a man of his word, Dean had gone ahead and made Sam a dating profile on both Tinder and Grinder. Horrified, Sam looked at the screen caps his brother had sent him.

In all honesty he  _ was  _ slightly flattered that, according to his big brother, Stanford was full of thirsty co-eds that had started trying to chat Sam up almost immediately. More than flattered though, he was just mad.

Knowing that even with the time difference, his brother was probably still in bed, Sam called Dean and waited with a clenched jaw.

“Alright, you son of a bitch,” he started the moment he heard the click of the receiver, “take them both down.”

“Aw, come on, baby brother,” Dean murmured sleepily. “It’s too early for this shit.”

“I’m serious. Take them down.”

“Or what? You’ll keep not answering your phone?”

“I was at work.”

Dean made noises like he couldn’t be bothered to care about an excuse like that. “I’ll take them down if you found yourself a date.”

Sam frowned, far too tired for this argument.

“Now’s when you tell me you totally asked some hottie out yesterday.”

“Look, I didn’t really have time to, but―”

“Awesome. So There’s this girl named Bela I was talking to for you. She’s a solid ten. Waitress. Perfectly perky breasts. She thinks she might have had an intro to law class with you last year. I was going to give her your number, but was also checking out a couple more options too.”

“Why are you like this?”

“Because I want to see you happy, dude. Not all moony eyed over some guy you’re too chickenshit to come on to. There’s other fish in the sea. Cute fish. Who have their own swimming pools, and the nicest little ass.”

Sam noticed that Biscuit had finished his business out here, so he leaned down and scooped the dog back up. “Why is a pool important?”

“No tan lines. She listed skinny dipping as an interest. I’ll text you over her picture.”

“You suck,” he told his brother, hearing the defeat in his own voice.

From behind him Lucifer asked, “Why are you outside in the middle of the night insulting our son?”

Sam turned around quickly to see his roommate standing at the open backdoor to the house. At some point the man had lost his shirt, his sweat pants riding low on his hips, his ridiculous unicorn tattoo on full display. 

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to wake you.” Sam pointedly made eye contact with the other man and did not let his gaze wander. “I’m talking to Dean… Dean, I’ve got to go. Take them down.  _ Please _ .”

Dean yawned and said, “I heard go ahead and give her your phone number. Got it,” before hanging up.

Trying to contain his simmering anger, Sam stepped around his roommate, and into the house. “Sorry again. I hope I didn’t wake up Cas too.”

“I haven't gone to bed yet. You didn't wake me.” Lucifer closed the door, a confused and sleepy look on his face, “and Cas left hours ago. We don’t do sleepovers. Tried it once, but he tosses and turns like crazy and I don’t enjoy waking up feeling like I’m in a surprise fist fight.”

Sam wished that he didn’t feel a sudden spark of joy at this news. He  _ shouldn’t  _ be happy to hear that his friend’s relationship hadn’t yet developed any deep roots. 

But he was.

Finding an easy smile that made his chest warm, Sam curled a hand around Lucifer’s shoulder, pushing him towards the hall. 

“What do you mean you haven’t gone to bed yet?”

Lucifer grinned, leaning most of his weight into Sam, his eyes red and sleepless. “I’ve only got two more episodes to go before I finish the first season of the Exorcist. I think I can make it.”

“You have work tomorrow.”

“Yeah, but not until three,” Lu explained, resting his head on Sam’s shoulder and lightly mouthing him through his shirt as he mumbled, “Sleep is for quitters.”

“Go to bed.”

“You’re not the boss of me.”

Sam could feel the other man grinning against his shoulder, hot breath soaking through his shirt. It did funny things to Sam’s insides, made it easy to forget about trying not to flirt with someone who was already spoken for, and about doing better not to hurt his own feelings. He pulled his arm around his friend and tugged him along, back to his own room.

“If you’re not going to bed, then come keep an eye on Biscuit while I go back to sleep,” Sam explained, flatly ignoring the part of himself that knew this was a bad plan. “Maybe you don’t have to, but I’ve got to get back up in two hours.”

Lucifer didn’t argue, and Sam tried not to read too much into that.

Not even bothering to turn on the light, he crawled into bed, grinning as the mattress dipped behind him. Sam hugged his pillow to his face, peering sideways as his friend settled in beside him, pulling Biscuit close and whispering to the dog in a sweet voice.

Sam wanted more than anything right then to ask for a kiss goodnight, but he knew he’d regret it if he did. 

“Get some sleep, you weirdo,” Sam urged.

“ _ You _ get some sleep,” Lucifer parroted back before yawning and curling close, one of his ankles hooking over Sam’s.

It was positively the nicest way to fall asleep. Warm, but not too warm. Close, but not too close. Just the right amount of touching so that when Sam did wake up to his alarm hours later it was a very real struggle to make himself uncurl from around his friend and get out of bed.

Grabbing clothes from his closet, Sam let his groggy mind entertain the idea of crawling back in bed and kissing the back of Lucifer’s neck, or the smooth line of his shoulders that was dotted here and there with light freckles. Thoughts that Sam took with him to the shower where it was safe to let his imagination get a little carried away. 

Happy thoughts and an easy, relaxed feeling stayed with him most of his morning. 

It wasn’t until between classes, when he pulled out his phone to check his emails, did he come harshly back to normal life―or at least as normal as life could be with a brother like his. 

He’d been texted screen caps of a dating profile, and snippets of Dean’s very long conversation with an honestly beautiful brunette who indeed didn’t seem to have any visible tan lines.

On the plus side, it looked like Dean had been very upfront about the fact that this was a profile he’d set up for his little brother. 

On the other hand, Dean had been very upfront about the fact that this was a profile he’d set up for his little brother. And probably in Dean’s mind it was somehow helpful to share that Sam was hung up on a friend and in desperate need of a distraction. Apparently from his brother’s point of view, Sam was a slow mover and needed to start off with something innocent like getting a coffee.

Sam didn’t consider himself shy, or naive. 

Just inexperienced and not immediately interested in branching out and doing any hands on learning at this current point in his life. He was very busy with the start of a new semester, and going back to work, and Biscuit.

Bela was distractingly pretty though. 

And she’d texted Sam around ten asking if maybe he’d be interested in getting a drink or something later this week. 

It would have been rude not to text her back.

It would have been equally rude to turn down her invitation.

Sam didn’t want to be rude.


	29. Chapter 29

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posting a new chapter via my phone is never my favorite, and sure you've waited 2 months for an update, why not just post tomorrow...   
But no! 
> 
> I do want to say thank you to those who checked in on me in my unexpected absence. I AM ok. Life just got a bit overwhelming for a while and the big depression blanked out any houghts of story writing for a long while. 
> 
> And then... I may have written 8 chapters of an unplanned Ducifer story because that was what my head wanted once I made it through my month of sad 🙃
> 
> Finally came back to this (mostly finished but untouched for months) chapter yesterday and barreled my way through. 
> 
> Better late then never though... right? 
> 
> Hope all of you are staying strong and safe out there.   
And hope a chapter of jealous Luci helps you get through the end of your week and into a much needed weekend.

“You’re making that noise again,” Michael complained.

Lucifer continued pacing, but did his best to unclench his jaw and stop grinding his teeth. “Why isn’t he home yet?”

“Because he’s on a date and enjoying himself?”

Lu stopped walking and scowled at his phone and the image of his brother grinning back at him. “First off, how dare you.”

“Come on,” Mike urged, “I think it’s a good thing, our little Sam all grown up and going on a date.”

“Yeah, with someone he met on a dating app,” Lu reminded sharply. “He doesn’t know her. She… she could be catfishing him and really some fifty-year-old man… or she could be a serial killer.”

“Ok,” Mike kept on laughing, showing no concern or sympathy at all, “but Sam’s built like a brick silo and I feel bad for anyone dumb enough to try and get the jump on him.”

“Sam is a lover, not a fighter, and a little worry from you would be nice right about now.”

“They’re on a date. If it goes longer than four hours you can call me back and I’ll worry with you,” Mike shook his head, glancing back over his shoulder at something Lu couldn’t see, “but for now I’ve got to get back to work.”

He didn’t know what he’d been expecting when he facetimed his brother. Sympathy maybe, or at the very least a distraction from the cold, heavy weight that had settled into his stomach.

Biscuit was once more curled up on the floor in a nest of Sam’s shirt, not sleeping, but watching Lu stalking back and forth through the house trying to outpace the anxiety he felt.

It was too late now, but he realized he never should have agreed to let Sam borrow his truck. If Sam didn’t have a ride then maybe he wouldn’t have gone out―which was petty and stupid and Michael was absolutely right that if Lucifer wanted to be a good friend he needed to at least  _ try  _ and be happy for Sam. 

Unfortunately, knowing what he  _ should _ do and actually being able to do were two very different things. 

He tried to sit down and watch some TV, and when that didn’t work he tried wasting time on his phone, which basically devolved into him repeatedly checking his text messages and the clock and frowning a whole lot. 

It was nearly one in the morning when he heard his truck pull up, sending Lu on a roller coaster of feelings. Most importantly, why the hell was Sam out so late on a school night? Second, it was probably a bad idea to lecture Sam like Lu was his parent. Also, the date was just supposed to be dinner, which realistically should have gone until seven at the latest. Lastly, it was probably a bad move to meet Sam at the door with a frown. 

So, he sat himself firmly on the couch, lifting Biscuit into his lap and tried his best to pretend he was watching whatever was on the TV. 

Sam came in wearing the most obvious grin imaginable and Lucifer felt his chest grow tight with anger despite his best intentions. 

“Hey,” Sam looked to be making some attempt at not grinning like an idiot, though he was failing miserably. “You didn’t have to wait up for me.”

“I wasn’t,” he lied. “We’ve just been watching…” Lu pointed to the TV screen, honestly having no idea what it was that he was watching.

Nodding, but not at all like he was paying attention, Sam set Lu’s keys on the kitchen counter and kicked off his shoes.

“You headed to bed?” Lu asked as casually as he could in spite of the way he wanted to get up and shake the other man and demand to know just why the hell he was smiling so damn much. 

“Thinking about it,” the jerk had the biggest, brightest grin as he came over to scratch their dog’s ears. “I am pretty tired… you’re not going to ask how my date went?”

Not only did Lucifer not want to ask how the date went, he was actually fairly positive that finding out any details about the date in question would only bring him that much closer to saying or doing something he wouldn’t be able to apologize for later. 

“How’s that saying go,” Lu forced a smile, “a gentleman doesn’t ask and a lady doesn’t tell?”

Sam sank down onto the couch, practically radiating excitement. “I don’t mind if you don’t wanna be a gentleman tonight.”

Jealousy was stupid.

It didn’t help Lucifer at all in this situation.

It only made his hands hurt from how hard he was clenching his fists. 

Sam apparently couldn’t wait to be asked, and he blurted, “It was great! And girls… girls are just…  _ wow _ . Like, I finally get what the big deal is.”

The man beside him was very literally wiggling in his seat, and it took all the restraint that Lucifer had to keep his forced smile in place and say, “Congrats, Sammy. I guess this makes you an official member of the club.”

“God, Lu, she was so pretty, and her hair smelled amazing, and she did this thing with her tongue and... and just…” he let his head fall back, a long breath rattling out of him, still grinning away like a crazy person. “I should probably get a shower before bed.”

“You should  _ definitely _ get a shower before bed.”

With a content little sound, Sam pushed himself to his feet and started off down the hall. Pausing to look over his shoulder, the younger man asked, “We’re going out again tomorrow night. Would it be ok if I borrow the truck?”

“I’ve got work,” Lu said almost too quickly, too eager to have a great reason to say no.

“Oh… that’s ok. I’ll text her in the morning and see if maybe she just wants to come over here.” Sam looked thoughtful, and then the idiot was right back to grinning. “You don’t mind if she stays the night, right?”

Lu nodded, feeling his insides sour as he forced out the words, “That’s fine.” 

It was not fine though.

As soon as he heard the shower turn on he grabbed his phone and called Michael. 

“They had sex,” he said in answer to his brother’s sleepy ‘hello’.

“Alright?” Michael mumbled around a yawn. 

“They met on a dating app a few days ago and now they’re having sex and she’s spending the night tomorrow.”

That seemed to wake Michael up, his voice clearing as he asked, “So she was a real girl and not some creepy old man?”

“Who puts out on the first date?” Lucifer demanded, wanting desperately for someone to share his anger.

“You do for one,” Mike didn’t hesitate to point out.

“I don’t count.”

Michael chuckled.

“Shut up, smart ass. I don’t count―because I’ve dated more than one other person. I’ve got some experience. I know to look for red flags. All Sam’s thinking about is boobs.”

“Good for him,” said the least sympathetic man to ever exist. “It’s good that he’s getting out there and figuring out what he wants. It’s healthy.”

“You’re a jerk.”

“I’m also very tired,” Mike yawned again. “Can we pick back up your jealous rant tomorrow after I’ve got some sleep?”

“I’m not jealous.”

The line went silent and it took Lucifer a few moments to realize it was not because he’d been hung up on, but because his brother was laughing so hard he’d stopped making sounds. 

“Sure, honey,” Mike finally managed to weeze out. “Whatever you say.”

“Fuck you, Mikey.”

“Yeah, alright. I’ll talk to you tomorrow,” and then his brother had the nerve to hang up on him. 

Lu was left to sit simmering on the couch, listening to the white noise of his friend in the other room showering off all those girl cooties.

Part of him was thinking that he’d been feeling a bit better about this in the morning, or at least part of him  _ hoped _ he’d be less angry at nothing once he’d had a chance to sleep it off. Instead he spent a very frustrating day at work where he couldn’t pinpoint exactly what was wrong, but definitely everything sucked and he hated it.

Everything except Biscuit. 

None of this was the dog’s fault, which Lu had to quietly remind the dog of every hour or so, peering under his desk at the sleeping puppy who would always lift his head and wag happily at Lucifer.

By the time he got home, at least twice as irritable as the night before, he wasn’t sure he could even get out of his truck. There was a cute, cherry red sports car in his driveway, in  _ his _ spot in the driveway. 

He sat there in the dark, fiddling with his phone, heavily debating calling Cas to ask if it would be ok to go over and stay the night. Lucifer would much rather spend some quality time under his boyfriend than subject himself to all manner of frustration by going into his own home. 

Sam’s date probably wasn’t even cute.

She was almost definitely just some super average, incredibly thirsty girl, hitting up all the dating sites, trying to find a hapless college boy who wasn’t all that picky.

At least that’s the pep talk that Lucifer gave himself before getting up the courage to leave his truck. 

Unfortunately for him, the woman sitting on his couch all cuddled up with his roommate, was incredibly hot. She was a solid ten, if not an eleven, with these soft waves of hair pulled over one shoulder, perfect pouty lips, and beautifully tan legs stretched out over Sam’s lap. All that aside, the worst part had to be that over her cute little shorts and silky looking top she was wearing one of Sam’s flannels.

“Hello,” she said, turning bright eyes towards Lucifer who stood lurking in his own doorway as the woman’s sweet smile settled on the tiny dog tucked against his chest. “Oh, and this must be the little Biscuit I’ve heard so much about. He’s precious.”

“Aw, stop. You’re making me blush,” Lu pretended to fan himself, doing his best to sound light and playful despite how much he already hated this beautiful woman and her honey-sweet voice. 

“Bela, this is my roommate Luci,” Sam started the introductions like the nice young man that he was.

“I don’t wanna be in you kids’ way,” he cut Sam off. “I’ve got some studying to do, so I’m just going to go hide in my cave.” 

“Oh,” Sam’s eyebrows raised, but he smiled encouragingly. “Alright. Well, goodnight?”

He waved to the two on the couch and quickly retreated to his room, closing the door behind him. 

It wasn’t that he wanted to stay home tonight, he already knew that he’d never stand a chance at staying focused if he even attempted to study―however, he knew it wouldn’t be fair to Castiel if Lu asked to go over and stay the night. The rest of his night was bound to be occupied with bitter and jealous thoughts about Sam and his new little arm candy, and Castiel hadn’t signed up for that.

In a stunning attempt at being kind to himself, Lu pulled out his headphones and put a movie on his phone; he’d block out any sounds from the other room before the sounds could even start. Which would have worked if Lucifer had been able to resist uncovering an ear from time to time and strain to hear any fragments of conversation or other, more interesting sounds. 

It was a terrible thing to do to himself, and it didn’t take long for Lucifer to hear something that he didn’t want to hear, and instead of quickly settling his headphones back in place, he held his breath and paused the movie he’d been watching. 

Bela was either super into it, or just putting on a good show. The woman was far too loud. The neighbors were going to hear and start giving Lu dirty looks when he waved at them across their driveways. 

The longer Lucifer listened to the very enjoyable sounds coming from the other room, the less and less ok he felt about what he was doing. Warmth was quickly spreading through his insides, pooling in low and pleasant places. 

He quickly pulled his headphones back into place, upping the volume of his movie and trying to ignore the quiet demands of his body. 

At some point he fell asleep, his dreams plagued with thoughts of long-legged brunettes with pretty mouths. It wasn’t Lucifer’s first wet dream starring Sam, it wouldn’t be the last. 

Gasping awake, soaked in sweat, with a hand down his boxers, however, would never be one of Lu’s favorite ways to wake up. He groaned softly, frustrated with himself and with life in general. 

Having feelings for the wrong person was never easy. 

Clouded thoughts, and still half asleep, he closed his eyes. Lucifer started to move his hand, thinking of Sam. Over the time that they’d known one another Lu had managed to save up quite a bank of memories he could draw on, plenty of nice images in his head to get him across the finish line. 

Some of his favorites were waking up beside the other man, feeling Sam’s hot breath prickling against his skin, the solid weight of Sam pinning Lucifer against the mattress.

He pushed his boxers down further, stroking a hand up his hips and the tense muscles of his stomach, dragging his fingers over his mouth to bite down on the soft spot below his thumb, stifling a moan as he imagined Sam’s hands on him. Sam’s mouth teasing him. 

Lucifer was lost in it, he didn’t hear the footsteps out in the hall. All he could focus on was his own staggered breaths, until the creak of the door opening interrupted him. By then, it was too late. His breath caught in his throat and his heart dropped down into his stomach. 

He opened his eyes, freezing, looking over to see Sam standing in the doorway, hand on the doorknob, looking at Lucifer with an unreadable expression on his face. 

Lu wanted to pull the blankets over himself. 

He wanted to fall off the earth. 

But he couldn’t move, he was pinned by the other man’s gaze. 

Sam didn’t say anything. At first He opened his mouth, then closed it. He looked away and took a small step back out into the hall, then paused and looked up at Lu again. It was as if he had no idea what to do any more than Lu did. 

“You don’t have to stop,” Sam said softly.

“What?” Lu breathed.

Sam swallowed so hard that Lucifer could see his Adam's apple bobbing from across the room. “You don’t have to stop,” he repeated.

Lucifer bit his lip, absolutely in no state to make anything even remotely resembling a good decision right then. His thoughts were worse than foggy, and Sam was still just standing there watching him. 

The smart thing to do would have been to chuck a pillow at his roommate and yell at him to get out. Nick didn’t feel up to being smart though. He pressed the back of his already bitten and sore hand to his mouth to try and hide his ragged breaths, and kept his eyes on Sam. Slowly, slowly, he began stroking himself again, watching his friend like a challenge, waiting for Sam to do  _ anything. _ For Sam to say something, for him to come the rest of the way into the room, or to turn on his heels and flee. 

But Sam just stood there, lips slightly parted, staring, his chest rising and falling too fast. He didn’t move other than the way his eyes moved over Lucifer, devouring every little shift and wrist flick. He didn’t say a word.

Even though Lucifer could feel his beautiful completion teasingly close, the situation caught up with him like a landslide. He couldn’t do this. Not that he  _ shouldn’t _ . He simply  _ couldn’t _ . Scrambling to find one of his pillows, he clumsily chucked it across the room, aiming at Sam but slamming into a wall. 

Sam got the hint though, and the bedroom door closed a little too loudly, leaving Lucifer alone with his too loud breaths.

The house was otherwise painfully quiet, which meant that there was zero competition for the screaming in Lucifer’s head―right up until light feminine giggling resonated from the direction of the other bedroom, followed by some the unmistakable sounds of pleasure. 

Looking at his phone, Lucifer saw that it was only barely eleven o’clock.

There was no hope that this night was going to end any time soon.

Lucifer needed to leave the house. 

He, in that moment, was not in the right frame of mind to listen to Sam and his girlfriend having sex. He pulled off his sweat dampened t-shirt, using it to wipe himself clean before hastily getting dressed. 

Biscuit was in the kitchen, chomping on kibble, but he looked up as soon as Lu walked past. The little dog hobbled after his owner, moving fast despite the cast on his back leg. 

Lucifer had no idea when the dog had escaped his room, and he really didn’t care. He jammed his feet in his shoes, not even bothering with the laces, before scooping up the dog bouncing around his feet, and leaving the house. He had no idea where he was going, that would have taken too much thought, and Lucifer really, really couldn’t do that right then. 

Not when he could hear Bela down the hall begging all sorts of things between Sam’s name.

It was only when Lu found himself parked in front of Castiel’s house did he realize that he really had no idea what he was doing anymore. 

For whatever it was worth, he knew he couldn’t go to Michael’s without getting lectured somehow like this was  _ his _ fault, and June and Gabriel lived at least half an hour away. 

There were lights on inside, and the clock on the truck’s dashboard said it wasn’t even midnight yet, which meant maybe it could be ok that Lucifer had found his way here. Letting out a frustrated noise though, he pressed his forehead against his steering wheel and asked the universe, “Why am I like this? What the hell is wrong with me?”

The universe didn’t seem to have a good answer for why Lucifer seemed to hate himself as much as he did. 

Biscuit offered some small, furry condolences, pressing his paws against Lu’s leg, his furry head popping up through the circle of Lucifer’s arms so he could lick the human’s face.

“I’m a dumbass, aren’t I?” He asked the dog, accepting the small wet kisses. “Yes I am. Yes. Ok. Wanna go see your Uncle Cas?”

That was when Lucifer noticed that he’d forgotten his cell phone back at home. His night was just going from bad to worse. It was really late to be visiting, and if the lights hadn’t been on then Lucifer would have simply decided to sleep in his truck. 

Sighing, letting go of whatever shreds of dignity he might have still been clinging to, Lucifer tucked Biscuit under his arm and walked up to Castiel’s front door.

He knocked softly, crossing his fingers that the very strange man he was dating would somehow be ok with this very unexpected visit. 

Almost too quickly, the door opened and Cas looked up at Lu almost like he’d been fully expecting to find his mess of a boyfriend on his doorstep in the middle of the night. “I thought that looked like your truck,” he said calmly. His eyes drifted down to the dog and then it was all smiles. “Well hello, you.”

Lucifer passed the small dog over to the very pleased looking man, like an apologetic offering before he even asked. “Hey, I know this is… not our normal, but is it ok if I crash here tonight?”

“That’s why I told you where I hide my spare key. You’re always welcome.”

“I should have called―”

“You don’t need to,” Castiel cut him off, stepping aside, still cradling the dog against his chest with a look of delight on his face. “You and this little angel are always welcome.”

Lucifer came inside, running his hands through his hair.

The dark-haired man glanced up from the dog he was gazing at, his smile faltering. “You’re upset about something.”

“No. No. I’m fine,” he leaned in, lighty kissing his boyfriend as either a greeting or a distraction. 

Castiel tasted faintly of cinnamon, like the unpleasantly red toothpaste he always used, his mouth soft against Lucifer’s. Their knees brushed, and then their hips as Cas leaned into the slow kisses.

Not even making the conscious decision at any point that this was why he’d come here, Lucifer slipped a hand behind the other man’s head, running his fingers through that soft dark hair, before deepening the kiss. 

Castiel’s eyebrows shot up like a question, and though he returned the kiss, opening his mouth to Lucifer and leaning heavily against his taller frame, he still pulled back first. “Is this one of those butt calls?”

Chuckling, hating himself a little, Lucifer asked, “You mean booty call, Cas?” 

“Yeah, that,” he sighed before licking his lips, “because I’m fine if it is, but I’ve only got time for one round. Early work tomorrow.”

“It’s midnight.” Lucifer rested his forehead against his boyfriend’s, swallowing hard and trying to find something like calm inside of himself. “Shouldn’t you already be in bed?”

“I could ask the same thing.” He butted their noses together. “Are you sure you’re feeling alright?”

“No,” he said through a bitter little laugh. 

Castiel rolled his eyes, disappointment on his handsome face. “Come on. Shoes off and then bed. I will be your large spoon while you tell me all about what is wrong.”

“Don’t think you wanna hear this story.”

“Tell me anyways and then let me decide if I wanted to hear it or not.”

Grumbling about what a bad idea this was and how much he didn’t want to, Lucifer let himself be dragged to bed. 

Biscuit was placed on the floor to sniff around curiously, investigating the corners of Castiel’s room, and just to be out of the way for a few moments.

Ignoring all protests, Castiel pushed Lucifer onto the bed. He knelt on the floor between Lu’s feet, pulling off his shoes before standing and very deliberately, but un-sexily, unthreading his belt and unbuttoning his jeans. The pants were stolen then folded and set in a neat pile with Lucifer’s shoes, tucked off to one side of the room. 

Lucifer had never been good at being taken care of, and he fought it the whole way, no matter how many times the other man batted his hands away.

“Come on,” he argued halfheartedly. “Cassy, you told me to tell you when you’re being too weird. This is too weird.”

“You’ve never complained about me undressing you before,” he reminded, no hesitation in his reply and no hint of teasing. 

“Yeah, but usually you’re kissing me while you do it.”

“You don’t look like a man who wants to be kissed right now.”

“I always want to be kissed,” he argued, followed by a startled squeak of breath as Castiel shoved him onto his back. “Or-or this is good too.”

“You already said, this is not a butt call,” he said with a soft smile, tapping a finger to Lu’s lips. 

“Booty call,” he corrected, chuckling. 

“That’s what I said.” Castiel waved it off. Finding Biscuit before turning off the light and joining Lucifer on the bed, laying behind him and wrapping an arm around his chest. “Now, tell me your story.”

In the warm dark, safe and quiet, Lucifer suddenly felt exhausted. “Can we save it for tomorrow?” 

“I have early work.”

“Then I’ll text you about it later.”

“You won’t.”

Lucifer folded a hand over Castiel’s, drawing the other man’s fingertips to his lips with a gentle kiss. “I probably won’t,” he admitted. “Can we just go to sleep anyway?”

"I don't know. Ca _ n _ we?" Castiel's warm breath drew a shiver down the length of Lucifer's spine.

"Sam walked in on me jerking off tonight." The words all running together in one mumbled confession pressed out from between Lucifer's gritted teeth.

They were still holding hands, and Cas' steady fingers paused only a fraction of a second before resuming the light patterns he was teaching between Lu’s knuckles. "And…?"

"And now I think I need to pack up and move out."

"I'm sure he's seen worse things."

"Ok, that might have felt like comforting words in your head, Cas, but ouch."

"I just mean you both have brothers. I'm sure this is not the first time interrupting, or being interrupted, for either of you."

Even though that was undoubtedly true, never once in his life had Lu made challenging eye contact with his brothers when they'd accidentally walked in on him. 

It would have been so easy to paint Sam as some sort of creep right then. Lucifer could have said how he'd opened his eyes to find his roommate watching him from a darkened doorway. Just watching, with such hungry eyes.

Lucifer needed to be honest though. He needed to tell someone. He needed another person to validate what a terrible person he was. "If I say it was kind of a turn on do I get kicked out of bed?" 

"Sam is very attractive."

"Cas!"

Biscuit whined uncertainly at the raised voices and Lucifer instantly felt bad, apologizing softly and letting go of his boyfriend's hand to gently pet the dog.

"I don't intend to make you jealous with my observation," Castiel whispered, his own suddenly free hand coming to rest at the base of Lucifer's throat. "But I do have eyes and he is a very attractive young man."

Lucifer rolled onto his back to look at his boyfriend. "You are so weird, Cas."

"Are you saying you don't find Sam pleasant to look at?"

_ Pleasant to look at _ was the understatement of the century.

Though he wanted to yell about it, Lucifer took a sharp breath and firmly explained to his boyfriend, "I'm saying usually if someone tells his boyfriend he was getting off thinking about another guy, the response tends to be a  _ little bit  _ more negative."

Castiel pressed a kiss to his temple, resting his lips there as he spoke, "That would be incredibly hypocritical, considering I do not always include thoughts of you in my own moments of self-indulgence."

Lucifer shook his head, with absolutely no idea how he was supposed to respond to that. 

"You think about Sam too?" He finally teased, trying to grin through his own stormy feelings. 

"No," Cas said thoughtfully, his eyelids drifting down until he was peering out through curious, almost mischievous slits. "You know I prefer to be on top. Sam has the look of a man who does as well. We simply wouldn't fit together, even in the most creative scenarios."

Lucifer’s addled brain apparently took that as a challenge from some godforsaken reason, and instantly a very feasible scenario came to mind. One that involved himself being in the middle of a man-sandwich.

“Nope," he said aloud, shaking his head, trying to school his thoughts back into some semblance of sane. “Pretend I never said anything."

“Are you embarrassed by this conversation you started?"

"Goodnight, Cas."

It was rare to hear Castiel laugh. Usually a bright grin was as far as he went. 

But he laughed then, a breathy chuckle pressed into Lucifer's neck before quietly saying back, "Goodnight, Luci."

  
  
  
  



	30. Chapter 30

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> however your day is going, I hope that this super light hearted chapter can make it better <3

Lucifer hadn’t been home in two days, or if he had it was while Sam was on campus. All Sam knew was that it had been days since he’d seen his roommate and the reason why was in no way a mystery. 

Taking a chance, he used the time between his classes and work to walk to the student med-center, knowing that Michael should be about midway through his lunch break. It was easy enough to find his ex, Michael didn’t exactly blend in with the landscaping while wearing his adorably pink scrubs. 

Sam slid into the opposite side of the picnic table, smiling hopefully when Michael looked up from his phone and grinned. 

“Hey, you.” One of Michael’s feet lightly nudged Sam’s. 

“Hey,” Sam repeated, feeling his smile falter. 

In an instant, Michael was leaning forward on his elbows, worry pinching his dark eyebrows. “What happened?”

“I-I actually just assumed that you’d already know what happened.” Sam’s laugh was tight and it earned him an increasingly concerned look from his friend. “So, your brother didn’t already talk to you?”

“Oh, God,” Michael pressed a hand to his eyes. “What did he do this time?”

Even though Sam’s memory was damingly clear, and he’d replayed in his mind quite a few times just exactly what he’d accidentally walked in on Lucifer doing, he didn’t think he could say it out loud. 

Really, he’d been banking on the twins having already talked about it.

“Did he say something stupid about you having a girlfriend?” Michael asked very pointedly. “Because I told him not to. You’re allowed to date and it’s great that you found a girl that you like.” 

“No, um, we really haven’t talked about it at all.” Sam looked down at his hands picking at a thumbnail and stalling very poorly. “He really hasn’t talked to you about anything weird in the last couple days?”

“Sam, honey, I’ve only got an hour long lunch break.”

“A couple nights ago I sort of accidentally walked in on your brother, and he hasn’t been home since. I was hoping that you’d heard something from him.”

Mike’s eyebrows went up high, then quickly lowered as he frowned. “Walked in on him doing what…?”

Sam cleared his throat and shrugged.

“Having sex with his boyfriend?” Michael suggested slowly, needling for an answer.

“It was really more of a solo performance,” Sam said softly, feeling heat touching his cheeks and hating it so much. “And I should have closed his door and apologized later, but I sort of… stayed and watched instead.”

Michael opened and closed his mouth, stunned into uncharacteristic silence. Still watching Sam with that stunned expression, Mike reached for his phone, pulling it over and finally dropping his gaze long enough to start frantically texting. 

“No!” Sam could see what was happening and fear gripped him. He reached across the table, snatching the phone away. He glanced at the little screen and saw that yes, his friend had started texting Lucifer. Defiant, Sam quickly deleted the sentence that Michael had started, before putting the phone face down on the table top. “You can’t.”

“I thought you wanted me to have already talked to him.” Mike reached out, resting a hand over his phone but not picking it back up. “Because give me a hot minute and I can tell you exactly how my brother is doing.”

“Please don’t.”

“Sam,” Michael said, the single word punctuated with odd laughter. “I  _ have to _ . You can’t tell me you watched my brother giving himself a hand, and expect me not to ask him if he noticed you there staring at him.”

“He definitely noticed. That’s not the issue.” Sam felt like the biggest creep ever. “I… I kind of asked him to keep going when he stopped and looked at me.”

There was a lot of white showing in Michael’s eyes. 

Sam’s face was burning. “And now he hasn’t come home, and what do I do?”

“Do you want me to tell him to come home?”

The idea of ever having to look Lucifer in the eye again was mortifying. 

“I think I need to move out.” Sam took a sharp breath, his shoulders tight. “Maybe transfer schools.” 

“Or maybe next time just offer to help him out,” Michael suggested as a cheeky grin inched its way in. 

Sam’s breath caught in his throat, remembering all too clearly just how tempted he’d been to do that very thing. The image had been imprinted into Sam’s mind; of his friend stretched out in bed, clothed except for where it mattered most, the arch in Lucifer’s back, and the way he bit his lip, and just how welcoming his eyes had been. Like an invitation.

An invitation that Sam had been too stunned to accept. 

And oh, how much worse everything would have been if he had been brave enough to go in and place his hands where Lucifer put his own, moving slow and greedy over the sharp line of his hips, all with Bela in the other room.

He’d had a girlfriend for less than a week and he was considering cheating on her with his own roommate. A roommate who he’d had more than just a little crush on probably since the night they’d met, if Sam wanted to be honest with himself. 

“Mike,” he pleaded. “I need a real solution. What am I supposed to do?”

They were friends. Good friends. So before answering or offering any sort of sympathy, Michael had a good laugh at Sam’s expense. 

“Ok. Ok,” Mike said in place of an apology, wiping an eye. “Just, give me a second. Wow. You two are a mess, and I am absolutely  _ not _ the guy you come to for relationship advice. Just in case you somehow forgot how much I suck at these kinds of things.”

“I didn’t know who else to talk to.”

Michael’s look was one of sympathy. “Let me come over after work. I’ll have some good advice for you then… hopefully.”

Sam was doubtful, but the offer for some evening company was more than welcome. He didn’t think he could take another night of sitting at home alone with his thoughts.

Though it was an easy enough night at the library, Sam spent his entire shift on edge because he knew that Michael had almost definitely talked to Lucifer about what was going on. Which meant that Sam could possibly be going home to find out exactly why his roommate was hiding from him, and honestly whatever information Mike had it would end up being more of a confirmation than a realisation. Sam had messed up big time and going home was bound to be awkward at best. 

Always willing to make things worse for himself though, Sam decided to call up Dean to keep him company on the long walk back home. 

Regardless of how late it was out in Kansas, Dean answered quickly, with a cheerful, “What’s up, Sammy?”

Sam recklessly went for it, needing to revisit it all despite the horror, like deliberately rubbing a cut tongue against a tooth despite how bad it hurt. “So… hypothetical question―" 

Dean made an uncertain sound. 

"It means like a ' _ what if' _ kind of question.” Sam explained. “Something that wouldn't actually happen―"

"I know what a hypothetical question is, smartass," Dean cut him off. "It's when you've already done something fucking stupid and you're trying to justify it, or your  _ thinking _ about doing something fucking stupid but you wanna test the waters first. But keep going, Mr. College education. Ask away."

Sam stared at his phone. 

" _ Hypothetically _ ..." Dean urged.

Sam took a moment to appreciate the fact that he was on the phone and wouldn’t have to actually meet his brother’s eye while he spoke. “Hypothetically, what do you do if you have some very seriously unaddressed feelings for a friend and one night you walk in on them, and you absolutely aren't ready for how hot they're going to look half-naked, but instead of apologizing and running away, you stand there staring at them like the biggest creep ever?” Sam dragged his feet while he walked, hating this, but also finding it easier to ask his brother for advice than it had been to ask Michael. 

“Did I also hypothetically tell my friend how hot they are? Or am I seriously just standing there with my mouth open like an idiot?” 

“Your friend is having a very private moment and all you manage to do is beg them not to stop.”

Dean made a very unattractive sound on his side of the phone. 

Sam waited patiently for his brother to stop laughing, after all, he’d known there wasn’t a single variation on this conversation that didn’t end with the other person’s horrified amusement and second hand embarrassment on Sam’s behalf. 

“Hell, Sammy. I can’t leave you alone can I?” Dean sounded almost on the verge of tears. “Alright. I’m still with you. Is this friend Michael or his brother?”

“Is it any better if I say it was Michael?”

“No. But at least that’s a familiar fuck up and we’d know where we stood.” Dean let out a chuckling sigh. “Ok. So you ogled blondy. And then what did  _ he _ do?”

“He… he didn’t stop.”

“Hot. Ok, and then you did what?”

Sam really, really wished he had the sort of answer to give that would have made his brother proud. Instead Sam winced and admitted, “I stood there with my mouth open like an idiot, until he threw something at me, and then I ran back to my room and had sex with my girlfriend.”

A stunned silence came from Dean before an offended, “Sammy, can you smack yourself upside the head for me? Just one good smack to try and knock the dumbass-ness out of you.”

“Not actually helpful, Dean.”

“What do you want from me? I can’t make you a time machine so you can go back and invite him to join you and your girlfriend― which, by the way would have been the only acceptable thing you could have done, you god damned coward.”

Sam’s ears felt hot as he very briefly entertained his brother’s suggestion, before shaking his head. “I haven't seen him in days. I think he’s avoiding me, but that’s only going to last for so long. What am I supposed to say to him?”

“You asking what a smart person would say, or what I would say if I was in your big dumb shoes?”

Sam sighed painfully.

“Tell him you’re sorry. Just quick like taking off a band-aid. Tell him he’s fucking hot, and his boyfriend is lucky to have a piece of that. Tell him if you’re both ever single you wouldn’t mind tapping that ass.”

“This is terrible advice.”

“I never said it would be good,” Dean pointed out with a bitter laugh. “Seriously though. Invite him to watch you next time you’re jerking off. It’ll make you two even.”

Sam made a strangeld sound, grateful that he was alone on the sidewalk with no one to hear him. 

“And then no one has to be weird or awkward,” Dean kept on attempting to help, “you’re still friends, and you can move on with your damn life.”

“Dean. No.”

“Then tell him you like him, and if he’s into it, break up with your girlfriend, fuck the living day lights out of this guy, and live happily ever after.”

“No.”

“Then I’m going to have to stick with the plan of just telling him you’re sorry and moving on with your damn life. You’re an adult. We screw up. It’s fine to admit it.”

“I’ve never once heard you admit blame for  _ anything _ .”

“Yeah, well, maybe because I never screwed up as badly as you. Seriously. Your girlfriend was in the other room?”

“You would have done the same thing if it was your hot roommate that you walked in on.”

“Maybe,” Dean admitted with a grin in his voice. “But then I also would have had the guts to ask my roommate to come back to my room with me and my girlfriend.”

Sam rolled his eyes, because he could absolutely see his brother being ballsy enough to lay out an invitation like that. But then again, Dean probably would have been able to tell his roommate a year ago how he felt and they never would have gotten to the place where Sam and Lucifer now were. 

The one thing that Sam hadn’t been expecting to have to deal with that night was just how ominous the beat up old grey truck looked sitting in the driveway beside Michael’s Jeep.

Sam wished that he’d stayed on the phone longer with Dean, because a pep talk would have been nice right then. 

But, Sam would have to do this on his own. He took a deep breath, remembering Dean’s almost helpful advice of just apologising like an adult and moving on with his life, and went inside. 

Biscuit greeted him at the door with happy sounds and feeble bounces on his bad leg until Sam leaned down and lifted the handful of dog up to his chest. 

“Missed you too,” Sam grinned. Somehow he’d forgotten that no matter how awkward his night was about to become, at least he’d get to do it while petting Biscuit. 

Michael was sitting on the couch by himself, smiling a tight smile and looking at the tiny dog in Sam’s arms with obvious uncertainty. 

“You doing ok?” Sam asked carefully, putting both hands over Biscuit and easily hiding him from sight.

“Yeah,” Michael lied, still holding himself like he planned to bolt from the couch. “I, um, I’ve been working on my thing with dogs.”

One extra problem that Sam didn’t think he had the mental strength right then, but at the same time, an absolutely tempting problem to focus on instead of the fact that Lucifer could be heard banging around in the kitchen.

“How was work?” Sam asked, nodding to the fact that Mike was still in his scrubs.

“Fine,” he said and his smile seemed to grow a little easier. “You?”

“Library is always pretty quiet. I can’t complain.”

“Are you feeling any better?”

Sam bit his lip and shook his head. “Did, um…” he trailed off, his eyes darting towards the sounds in the kitchen. 

Suddenly Michael was grinning, whispering, “ _ He told me everything, but he doesn’t know that you know that I know _ .”

“ _ And _ ?”

Michael’s eyes went wide with barely restrained laughter, and it didn’t help Sam in the slightest. 

“I went grocery shopping,” Luci yelled from the kitchen. “You can’t live off salads, Sam. It’s not healthy. I’m making real dinner, with carbs and meat, and you and Mikey don’t get to whine about it.”

Sam swallowed thickly.

Michael snickered.

“Thanks,” Sam called back in his most casual voice before hesitantly offering, “You want any help?”

“Nope,” came Lucifer’s very quick response.

Wincing, Sam nodded and went to sit on the couch with Michael, but was stopped by his friend sticking out a leg to block his path.

“ _ You get your ass in there and help him _ ,” Michael hissed.

“ _ He doesn’t want me to _ .”

“ _ He doesn’t know what he wants _ .” Michael folded his arms, raising his voice to a normal volume as he yelled to his brother, “Isn’t that right, Lu?”

“I ain’t agreeing to nothin’,” Lucifer yelled back, still hiding in the safety of the kitchen. 

Sam couldn’t blame the other man. Hiding sounded really good. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t be sustainable. They lived together, and if they had any intentions of continuing on with that, then they’d have to look at each other again at some point. 

Being an adult really sucked sometimes. 

Sam hefted Biscuit a little higher, holding the warm bit of fluff against his neck, and went into the kitchen. 

A pot of red sauce was bubbling softly on the stove, smelling absolutely amazing, and Lu stood there stirring, and also smelling absolutely amazing. The man’s hair was damp, smoothed back from his forehead, and he had that freshly scrubbed, just out of the shower look to him that went along so nicely with the warm and slightly citrusy scent of his aftershave. 

He glanced up from his cooking, meeting Sam’s eye for roughly two full seconds before his face turned bright red in embarrassment and he turned back to the food.

“You,” Sam chewed his lip, “you, um, sure you don’t want some help?”

“Absolutely sure I’m not ready to be in a room with you again just yet.”

Sam nodded and backed out of the kitchen, feeling his ears burning as he returned to the front room.

But Michael wasn’t having it. He stood and pushed past Sam. “Lu, for fuck’s sake,” he rounded his way into the kitchen, vanishing from sight even as he kept his voice raised. “He caught you with your pants down. Get over it.”

Sam closed his eyes, wincing and questioning why the hell he’d thought it was a good idea to let Michael come over. His ex may have been a gentle and sweet person, but not when it came to Lucifer. The twins tended to be a little more blunt with each other than they were with other people.

“It’s only awkward because you both like each other.” Michael was too blunt, and some things really didn’t need to be said. He kept going though, sounding almost like Dean as he lectured his younger brother. “Just laugh it off like you would if it was any other friend of yours, go back to pretending you don’t want to touch him like you’ve been doing for the past year, and move on with your damn life, you absolute coward.”

Hiding in his room actually started to feel like a valid plan for Sam. 

“You know what?” Lucifer shot back with, “You don’t even live here anymore. Get out.”

“Sam invited me over, so  _ meeeh.” _

Sam sank onto the couch and buried his face in the dog, wondering if it were possible for him to be any more embarrassed than he already was.

“I’ll hit you with this spoon, Mikey. I swear to god, I don’t care if it stains either. Get out.”

“I will leave on one condition,” Michael said in the most insufferable way possible.

Sam braced himself, wondering when he’d become such a coward that he was hiding in one room and listening to his ex-boyfriend doing all the hard work.

“ _ Fine _ ,” Lucifer grumbled, hardly audible. “I’ll go talk to him.”

“Not good enough,” Michael argued. “You already chickened out of that one. Only way I’m leaving you two alone is if you go out there and kiss him.”

“Fuck you.”

“I can wait all night, Lu. You know I’m more stubborn than you.”

Sam expected more profanity. More fighting on Lucifer’s part, because how dare Michael overstep any sort of weak boundaries that were left.

What Sam didn’t expect was for his roommate to storm into the living room and come straight at him. It didn’t leave enough time for Sam to do anything other than feel incredibly concerned before his friend cupped his face between two very warm hands and pressed an irritate kiss between Sam’s eyes. 

Lucifer turned back to his brother who had come to stand in the doorway. “There. Now get out before I have to hit you.”

Surprisingly, Michael put both his hands in the air, lips pressed into a thin tight line, and he saw himself out the front door.

There was nothing but intensely uncomfortable silence between Sam and Lucifer, until the sounds of Mike’s Jeep faded and it was obvious that they were alone. 

Taking a cleansing breath, Lucifer’s shoulders visibly sagged. He didn’t look at Sam before shuffling softly back into the kitchen. Once he was out of sight, his voice came, hardly loud enough to hear, “Sorry for grabbing you like that. I just really needed him to leave.”

“It’s alright,” Sam answered back, reaching up to lightly touch where he’d been kissed. “I… I’m really sorry about a couple nights ago.”

“Yep.”

Sam frowned, uncertain what kind of an answer ‘yep’ even was. “I should have knocked,” he said carefully, holding himself tight. “I heard Biscuit scratching at your door, and figured you were sleeping. I didn’t mean to… yeah. I’m sorry.”

“Neat,” came another one of Lucifer's absolutely incomprehensible answers.

“ _ Neat _ ,” Sam repeated softly, feeling his embarrassment fading, making room for irritation. “Neat?”

“What do you want me to say?”

“That you want me to find a new place to live?”

Lucifer peered around the corner, frowning. “No. Don’t be stupid.” 

Sam frowned right back. “It’s a valid question.”

“It’s  _ not _ ,” the other man argued. “We didn’t have a fight or something. We just… alright, this is stupid. Just fucking knock next time.”

“I will knock next time,” Sam agreed softly.

Lucifer held his gaze, slowly nodding and saying, “Good. I’ll knock too. Now come in here and help me cook.”

Sam did as he was told, relieved for the chance of normalcy, even if it took until halfway through eating their meal to finally feel relaxed. The bottle of wine that they were sharing probably helped as much as their casual joking.

Biscuit snuffled around their feet, and Sam leaned down from time to time to pass a dry noodle to the dog, or to scratch its ears while he listened to Lucifer telling him about the past few days of work. 

Apparently four separate cats at the shelter all had kittens on the same day, which led to thirty fresh little babies needing a temporary foster home until they’d be old enough to adopt out.

“Everyone find a home?” Sam asked, leaning sideways in his chair to keep petting their dog.

With a roll of his eyes, Lucifer nodded.

“So there aren’t secret kittens in your room that you’re going to surprise me with later?”

That earned a chuckle as Luci poured himself another glass of wine, topping off Sam’s glass as well before standing. “Thankfully, no. Not this time. But it is going to happen a couple times a year, so hopefully you’re ok with cats in the house every once in a while.”

“Sure?” Sam laughed, getting up as well, and following his friend to the couch. 

“You’re so much easier to live with than Mike,” Lucifer said, his cheeks rosey from the half bottle of wine that he’d managed during dinner. 

“Well, I’ll give you that.” Sam grinned. “I don’t demand that you kiss someone before I’m willing to leave the house.”

“He thinks he’s so smart. And so cute. Really, he’s just a fucking mess. Before you and Kelvin? He had a new boyfriend every two weeks. He should have just put a revolving door on his bedroom.”

Sam snorted softly before raising his glass to his lips. “Him and Kelvin seem like they’re ok.”

“For now,” Lucifer sighed, letting his head fall back. “But you heard his relationship advice.  _ Just kiss your friend _ , like that’s going to make it better. Like that wasn’t how things got so damn awkward in the first palace.”

“You think it was all the totally platonic friend kissing that made the past few days super awful?” Sam raised an eyebrow. “Because I really assumed it was me creeping on you like some kind of weirdo.”

Brittle laughter made it out of Lucifer, a little hysterical, a little sweet with all that he’d had to drink during dinner. “You’re just going to bring it up like that?”

“Ok, but while I was freaking out today, in a moment of brilliance, I called Dean and asked for advice.”

“I bet he had  _ great  _ advice.”

“He said I should have invited you to either come back to bed with me and Bela, or just offer to let you watch me next time I was…” Sam made the start of a hand gesture but chickened out halfway through, and ended up just sitting there on the couch and laughing at the ridiculousness of this conversation.

He didn’t immediately get an answer from his friend, and amidst his poorly stifled giggles, Sam looked over to see Lucifer looking off into the middle distance with a very thoughtful expression. 

Sam elbowed the man beside him. “You’re not supposed to actually consider these options. My brother is an idiot.”

“Yeah, but Cas had a similar suggestion when I talked to him about it, and now…” Lucifer trailed off, slowly turned his head to look at Sam as he bit his lip.

It was far too close of a reminder of the expression that Lucifer had been making while in bed the last time they’d seen each other―and even though Sam was fairly certain he was being teased, he had to look away. 

“Your boyfriend is weird,” Sam grumbled.

“Right?” Lucifer chuckled before downing half his glass of wine in a single drink. “He said you look too much like a top, so it would never work between the two of you.”

“He’s… he likes to be on top too?” This was not information that Sam wanted or needed, but if it got them talking about anything other than the last night they saw each other than Sam would go along with it. 

“Yeah. The two of you would just end up arguing about who got to be where for the  _ two positions _ that people definitely have sex in, with no other options because  _ obviously _ .” 

“Look. There are two.”

“Sammy, there are literally entire books devoted to the many, many varieties of ways to fuck another person. I will get you a copy. Educate yourself. Please. For your girlfriend’s sake if nothing else.”

Sam rolled his eyes.

Lucifer’s elbow caught him in the ribs again, as the other man leaned in close to ask, “You have noticed some differences between boys and girls, right? I don’t know what lame binary options my brother gave you when you guys were together, but you have at least come up with a third option when you’re with what’s-her-face… right?”

“Her name’s Bela… and yeah. I’ve discovered a third option.”

“You’re so damn innocent sometimes,” Lucifer reached out and ran a hand through Sam’s hair, tucking it behind an ear.

“It’s not …  _ innocence _ ,” Sam complained softly, ducking his head to escape his friend’s touch. “It’s inexperience. I’m still learning.” 

“Yeah?” Lu looked at him curiously. “And what has  _ Bela _ been teaching you so far?”

Sam hitched his shoulders up near his ears, and mumbling something that wasn’t an answer. 

“Come on. I told you about being pegged. You’re really going to wuss out on me now?”

Feeling himself blushing, Sam clumsily explained how he and Bela had been getting to know each other better, before he picked up the TV remote and found some show that was loud enough to be a distraction. 

“I think the kids these days call that the ‘reverse cow-girl’,” Lucifer said wisely, nodding to himself over his glass of wine.

“Why does it need a name?”

“Because they all get names. Bad names. Fun names.” He kept on chuckling, looking far too amused by their conversation. He reached over and stole the remote, switching channels until he found an old, black and white gameshow. “So… when are you and Bela getting together next? So I know to lock my bedroom door.”

Sam wrinkled his nose. Not appreciating the insinuation. “I don’t know. We haven't really planned anything.” He tugged his phone from a pocket, having to move Biscuit from his lap to Lucifer’s first. 

“I didn’t mean to text her right now,” Lucifer whined, and said something else, but Sam didn’t hear it. 

Sam was reading and re-reading the missed texts on his phone that had been left on silent since work.

Lucifer slid a hand over his wrist, tipping the phone to one side so he could see the screen too, and Sam didn’t fight it. He just sat there feeling like he’d been slapped. 

“She’s breaking up with you via text?” Lucifer’s soft whisper sounding somewhere between horrified and furious. “What an absolute bitch.”

Sam opened and closed his mouth, trying to think of anything to say as he looked at the very casual ‘ _ it’s not you, it’s me, and this just isn’t working out _ ’ text that was so cold and detached. “Do… do I text her back?” He asked hesitantly. 

“Only if you plan on telling her she’s a bitch.”

“She’s  _ not _ .”

“She is if she’s breaking up with you through text and not even giving you a reason.” Lucifer pulled the phone from Sam’s hands and started scrolling through older conversations from that morning and the past few days. He slowly shook his head. 

“Did I do something wrong?” 

“No?” Lucifer said slowly. “Sam, I know she was your first girlfriend, and the person you dated before was also an asshole, but holy hell. She sucks.”

“What?” Sam looked over, feeling a snap of defensiveness. “No. She’s really sweet, and fun.”

“No… she was asking to borrow money from you?”

“Her roommate bailed on her and she needed help making rent.”

“She just met you.”

“Yeah,” Sam shifted, uncomfortable under the weight of the other man’s gaze. “But we’re dating.”

“How many dates did you two go on before she asked you for three-hundred bucks?”

“Just one date,” Sam rubbed the back of his neck. “But we’d been texting for a while before that.”

“Like a couple days!” Lucifer tossed the phone onto the coffee table with a sound of disgust. “Sam. You’re not inexperienced. You’re a naive idiot.”

Scoffing, Sam punched his friend’s leg, and when Lucifer only laughed, Sam hit him again. He folded his arms and slumped low on the couch. 

The game show played on, and Sam watched the TV screen through narrow eyes, not really taking any of it in. 

“There’s nice girls out there,” Lucifer said softly, one warm arm coming to settle around Sam’s shoulders. “Bela just wasn’t one of them.”

“And Mike?”

“Also not a nice girl,” Lucifer said with a soft chuckle, jostling Sam slightly. “But I promise there are tons of people out there that won’t sneak around behind your back, and won’t break up with you because you’re a broke ass college student with no money to lend out.”

Sam closed his eyes and leaned heavily against his friend’s side. “I’m an idiot. Aren’t I?”

“You’re a good guy, and you assume other people are good too.” Lucifer pressed his mouth to Sam’s temple, close and comforting. “It’s not a bad thing.”

“We weren't even dating for a whole week,” Sam said in a defeated tone. 

“But… let’s look on the bright side,” Lucifer spoke with his lips still against Sam’s skin, soft and soothing. “You got your V-card punched. You got to have sex with a hot girl, and from what I heard it sounded like you were doing an amazing job. And now you’re a bit more experienced, you’ll know how to talk to the next hot girl, or  _ guy, _ you come across. Plus, your brother set you up with her, right? So you get to blame him for her being awful. How great is that? Any time Dean tries to get away with something, you can bring this up. This is sibling guilt-fodder for years.”

“I can really rub it in, can’t I?” Sam smiled faintly. 

“You sure as hell can,” his friend said encouragingly. He placed a gentle kiss on Sam’s cheek. “You’ve got the best excuse to never let him set you up on a blind date ever again.”

Sam rolled his head to the side, turning towards Lucifer, pressing their foreheads together. “You don’t know Dean. He’s still going to try.”

“Probably. Big brothers suck like that.” He nodded slowly, their noses brushing. “But you know what? Fuck Dean. And fuck Bela. And fuck Mike too for good measure. You’re too good for them.”

“I’m too good for Dean?” Sam chuckled, feeling his own breath bouncing back against his lips.

“You know what I mean.” With a soft sigh, and a very soft kiss that grazed the corner of Sam’s mouth, Lucifer pulled away. 

“Lu…” Sam asked softly, unsure.

“I’m not flirting,” he said quickly, like he could read Sam’s very confusing, win soaked thoughts. “I’m comforting a friend.” And then, not even asking, he nudged Sam over, further away, so he could turn sideways on the couch and lay back with his head in Sam’s lap. 

“Are you good?” Sam looked down at his friend, raising an eyebrow.

“Yep,” he said, closing his eyes.

“And how exactly is this comforting me?” Sam asked, laughing softly as he slowly ran his fingers through his friend’s hair. 

“It just is. Trust me… and keep doing that. It feels nice.”

Sam sighed, and kept petting, watching the little lines of worry between his friend’s eyebrows fading. The other man’s scalp was warm, his hair dried in soft waves from his shower earlier. 

It was something nice to focus on, the feel of those soft strands sliding between his fingers, a whole lot nicer to focus on than his phone sitting like a bad reminder only a few feet away. 

He hated to admit it, but Lucifer was right. 

Sam was a naive idiot.

At least when it came to dating. 

He looked from his phone to the man using him as a pillow, gently sliding his fingers down a cheek, tracing a line down Lu’s jaw. 

Dating, and just any kind of romantic feelings it seemed. 

“How are you and Cas doing?” Sam asked tentatively, resting his thumb for a moment in the dip below his friend’s lower lip.

Lucifer didn’t even open his eyes as he smiled faintly. “We’re good, but I think we’ll both be happy to have me out of his house. He said he didn’t mind having me and Biscuit there the past few days, but we’re not… compatible for living together.” His smile became a grin. “He’s the same kind of clean as Mike and apparently the fact that I don’t wash my coffee cups out immediately after using them should come with prison time.” 

“I’ve seen your desk,” Sam chuckled. “There’s probably a dozen dirty coffee cups in there.”

“Yeah, but I’m living with you, and not Cas or my brother, because you understand that I’ll get around to it eventually.”

Sam grinned at the word ‘eventually’, honestly not at all sure that Lucifer would ever get around to collecting the mugs and washing them. But it was his desk and his problem, and Sam could look the other way. 

“How long do you think you and Cas are going to make it?”

Lucifer’s eyes shot open and he looked blearily up at Sam. “What the hell kind of a question is that?”

“In the year I’ve known you, he’s the only person I’ve ever seen you date… and you’ve said more than once that you two can’t live together and can’t spend the night together because you don’t sleep well with each other.” Sam cleared his throat, looking away from those pale eyes that were watching him so intently. “Not trying to make trouble. And you know I’m no expert. Just… you know, aren’t those eventually things that you’ll need to sort out if you’re dating someone?”

“You’re right. You’re not an expert.”

Sam held his hands up in surrender.

Lucifer only grumbled, reached up and caught one of Sam’s hands before pulling it down to rest on top of his head. “Keep petting.”

Sam did as he was told, chuckling under his breath. “Not really sure that you’re all that good at comforting people.”

“What are you talking about?” Lucifer’s eyes were hardly more than slits, twin grey moons as he looked up at Sam. “You’re smiling, aren’t you? I count that as a win.”

“Maybe.” It was hard to argue with that kind of logic. “I think you just drank too much wine with dinner and are falling asleep on me.”

“Would I do that?”

“You  _ are _ doing that right now.”

“Not my fault,” he hummed softly. “You touch me and my brain just shuts down.”

“Ah, what every man likes to hear.”

Lucifer’s grin was sharp and lovely. “You’ll meet someone who does it to you one day, Sammy. Promise. He or she will touch you and you’ll just go  _ mmmm _ .”

It was a delicious sounding hum, and it bypassed all the dark feelings simmering in the back of Sam’s mind and tickled down his spine. 

“You sure you’re not flirting with me?” He asked softly, slowly twisting and tugging some of that soft hair around his fingers. 

“Just comforting you,” Lucifer promised, leaning into Sam’s touch, tipping his chin up and baring his throat with a sharp breath. “No. Go back. Keep doing that.”

Sam had resumed his gentle petting for a moment, but followed that less than subtle request and returned to the light tugging, digging his nails against his friend’s scalp and watching the way that Lucifer’s eyelids fluttered. 

“I’ll find someone eventually,” Sam said, nodding, repeating the other man’s words. “And they’ll touch me and I’ll just…  _ mmmm _ ?” 

“Absolutely.” Lucifer breathed. “Trust me. They’re out there. You’ll find them.”

Sam believed him.

Looking down at his friend, he was pretty damn sure he already had. 

  
  
  
  



	31. Chapter 31

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> realized I hadn't updated over here even though the chapter has been done for a more than a week now. but for the best, right? got to finish up that ducifer story nice and clean before delving back into this nonsense here
> 
> life update:  
I am safe from the California fires, thank you guys for checking on me <3  
hope you guys are all holding it together as best you can.

It was pretty impossible for Luci to be happy that Sam and Bela had broken up when the first thing Sam did as a newly single and eligible young man was to go out and find himself a date. There were some suspicions that Dean was somehow to blame for this, all that well-meaning big brother help interfering with Lucifer’s daydreaming. 

He was smart enough not to complain, and he lent a sympathetic shoulder when Sam came home early from that first date.

“I don’t know if I wanna ask,” he said slowly, setting Biscuit on the floor so the dog could bounce clumsily towards Sam.

The younger man tossed down his keys and wallet with a sharp breath, all his movements guarded and jerky. “I mentioned my roommate has a boyfriend and she immediately went into this whole thing about how it’s a sin in the sight of God and how I was going down a steep path towards damnation by being friends with someone like you.”

Lucifer blinked slowly, not really sure what to say to that.

“So I paid for my food and left.” He took a cleansing breath, visibly calming himself down before picking up the excited puppy dancing around his feet.

Trying very hard not to laugh, Lucifer asked, “You just left her there?” 

“I probably shouldn’t have.” Sam glanced back at the door, his anger visibly fading. “I should have given her pious, judgmental-ass a ride home.”

“You  _ should _ have just told her you like screwing guys too, and then let her storm out all on her own.”

Surprisingly, Sam smiled, an almost wistful look in his eyes. “I do like guys.”

The impulsive, chaotic part of Lu wanted to give himself up as an offering, but he knew better than that. Even though it felt like self-sabotage he smiled and promised, “There are some really awesome girls out there. You just need to keep looking.”

Sam brough Biscuit along with him to the couch, sitting sideways and laying his head in Lucifer’s lap. “Maybe I should just focus on classes for a bit and take a break from dating.”

“Or just take a break from letting Dean set you up on dates?” He suggested, carefully smoothing some hair from Sam’s forehead. “Maybe get a haircut. Maybe go out and meet someone in real life instead of on-line.”

“Does that help?”

“A haircut? I mean, I don’t think it could hurt,” Lucifer barely managed to get the words out, laughing as Sam awkwardly headbutted him in the stomach. 

“Going  _ out _ to meet someone,” Sam said with a smile in his eyes. “Because Dean and I went out to a couple bars and pool halls back in Kansas and… yeah, didn’t really meet anyone that was like the kind of person I think I’m looking for.”

“What kind of person are you looking for?”

Though it wasn’t meant as a loaded question, and any answer at all that his friend gave would have been valid, Lucifer did find himself holding his breath while he watched the wheels in Sam’s mind turning as he collected his thoughts. 

“Someone I can talk to,” he said slowly, a corner of his lips curving upwards. “Someone smart, and with a good sense of humor. Honest. Currently single. A good hugging height. Preferably knows a bit more about relationships than I do because I obviously don’t have any idea what the hell I’m doing.”

“That’s a tall order,” Lucifer chuckled. 

“Is it though? I feel like that’s setting a reasonably low bar.”

“You’re looking for a decent human being, Sam. And not just that, you want them to be single too?”

“Preferably.” He sighed, closing his eyes. “I’d like to not be a homewrecker and pull a Mike on someone.”

The idea that having a side piece could now be called ‘pulling a Mike’ brought far too much joy to Luci and he couldn’t wait to tell his brother next time they saw each other. 

“Maybe being single for a bit wouldn’t hurt,” Lucifer said after a thoughtful pause. No ulterior motive behind his words. He was simply repeating back Sam’s earlier thought. 

“Maybe,” the man lying in his lap agreed with a defeated sigh. 

Though it was a great plan, by that weekend Sam had somehow managed to talk Lucifer into bringing Cas along on a double date. Dinner and a movie with Sam and some guy that Sam met at work. 

It was lightly sprinkling outside, and Lucifer was stubborn enough to sit in his truck pouting while he waited for Sam to arrive with his  _ date _ . 

Castiel sat beside him, his breath fogging the window as he painted a spiral with a finger. “Would you believe this will be my first double date?”

“Yeah. I’d buy it.” He twisted his keyring around and around his thumb.

“I am looking forward to observing the others.”

“This isn’t a case study, Cas. It’s just a date.” He looked over, pleading. “Please just treat it like a normal date.”

“A normal date?” Castiel looked over, raising an eyebrow. “What goes on during a  _ normal _ date?”

Lucifer cracked a smile. “Same things you and me always do, but with less you and me making out, or math homework, and not asking super personal questions to the other guys because you’re not studying them right now.”

“No kissing  _ and  _ I’m not allowed to ask personal questions?” He asked with a hint of teasing in his voice. “Well this sounds incredibly boring. Why was I invited along?”

Chuckling, Lu leaned over and stole a soft kiss. “Because you agreed to go out with a weirdo like me. Who else would I drag along on a double date?”

“Your brother?”

“I hope you’re joking.”

“Well, it’s a polygamous date, isn’t it? You could just choose to go home with one of the other two people who aren’t your brother.”

He lightly ran his thumb over Cas’s lower lip. “You didn’t look up the definition of a double date before coming along tonight, did you?”

“No,” he answered simply.

“It’s not four people all going out with each other.” The simple correction was amusing and helped to lighten Lucifer’s spirit. “I came with you, I leave with you. Sam is coming with… whoever he’s coming with and they’ll leave together. No switching around.”

“I think this is a far less entertaining definition of a ‘double date’, but alright.” Cas shrugged, the light still dancing in his eyes that said he was teasing Lucifer. He pulled away, glancing through the foggy windshield. “I think I see Sam.”

And that was a good enough reason to step out into the light rain, dashing through the parking lot and up to the restaurant. Sam was easy to spot, giant that he was, and at his side was a man fully two heads smaller than him, who Lucifer might have been able to pick up with a single hand. Blond curly hair, a big smile, and one of his slender arms through Sam’s.

Lucifer instantly disliked him.

To be fair though, he disliked most people.

Introductions were made, the little twinky hanging on Sam was named Terrance and he was far too happy for his own good.

The four of them were shown to a table, Terrance talking excitedly the whole time. “None of you have been down to Cancun? Really? Oh my God. The beaches, the sun, the boys, the booze. You guys have to go next spring break, it’s the most fun you can have... legally.”

“My family has a cabin up in Tahoe,” Lucifer wasn’t bragging, mostly. “More of a snow outside, sitting around the fireplace, kind of guy.”

“I don’t know,” Sam, ever the peacekeeper, said. “I like the beach.”

Lucifer looked over his menu, leaning a shoulder against Cas’s and doing his best to distract himself from Sam and Terrance’s happy bubbly talk about beach parties.

“So,” Terrance wasn’t easy to ignore, the excited little puppy of a man grinning at Lucifer and Cas, “just in case they don’t take my ID, which one of you handsome fellas are buying drinks?”

“Why wouldn’t they take your ID?” Cas asked, cocking his head to one side.

“Because it’s fake,” he laughed brightly, his curls bouncing. “Most places don’t care, but you know, just in case, I might need one of you  _ adults _ to order my drink for me.”

“I’m not sure I feel―”

“Sure thing, kiddo,” Lucifer cut his boyfriend off, placing a hand on his leg beneath the table. 

“I like you,” Terrance practically cooed before resting his head against Sam’s shoulder, looking up to say, “I like him. He’s just a big old sweetie, isn’t he?”

Sam didn’t answer, instead looking questioning at Lu. 

Their waitress came by to take their order. Terrance leaned across the table, whispering to Lucifer, “I want a mojito.”

He agreed, and placed the order, taking out his own ID to show he was old enough to order whatever he wanted. It was difficult to keep his smile to himself, calm and collected, until their drinks arrived. The mojito was placed in front of him, and as their waitress walked away, before Terrance could swap their drinks, Lucifer raised the boozy mixture to his lips and downed it all in one go.

“H-hey,” Terrance still had a hand out, fingers grasping at air. 

“Changed my mind,” Lucifer hissed between his teeth, the rum burning its way down his throat.

“You’re not a sweetie at all,” he said with such betrayal. 

Things like that gave Lucifer strength. He grinned and stole Castiel’s water, needing something to offset the surprisingly strong drink.

It wasn’t a good date.

It also wasn’t terrible. 

If nothing else, Lucifer had fun sitting there and doing everything he could to take the wind out of Terrance’s sails. At some point the little fella got up to go to the bathroom and as soon as he was gone from their line of sight, Sam rested both elbows on the table and leaned in. 

“Not sure if this is going well,” he said with a frown. 

“I don’t know,” Lucifer hummed softly. “I think he’s a real  _ sweetie _ .”

Sam’s frown deepened. “Ok, so he’s a little…”

“I think he’s fascinating,” Castiel said excitedly, leaning in as well like this was some sort of meeting. “I don’t often get a chance to first hand observe someone like him.”

“What does that mean?” Sam sat back, his eyebrows darting up.

Lucifer flapped his hands dismissively. “Ignore him. He’s… he’s Cas.”

But Sam looked slightly offended, and Castiel wasn’t the sort of person to ignore when someone was asking him a question.

“I mean that he acts much younger than his age,” Cas tilted his head to one side, pausing while he pulled his thoughts together. “He has an almost childlike, entitled way of looking at the world, and that’s not something often seen in adults. I am enjoying watching how he interacts with others.”

Even though Sam frowned, he didn’t argue. 

By the end of dinner, Luci thought it would be best for him and Cas to bow out early. He made the very good excuse of needing to get home to Biscuit, wished Sam and Terrance a goodnight, and ran back to the truck through the rain with Cas.

“Am I driving you home?” Lucifer asked, pushing wet hair back from his face. 

“To your place so I can see the dog?” Cas smiled almost hopefully. “Also, I was promised a movie tonight, and you are very serious about keeping promises you make.”

The bit about the movie had to be tacked on as an afterthought. Lucifer wasn’t tricked. Castiel had been asking about the dog every single day since the long weekend that Lucifer had spent hiding out at his place. So he took Cas home with him.

Byt the time he picked out a movie, Biscuit was passed out asleep in Castiel’s lap, little puppy legs up in the air. 

“What did you do to my dog?” Lucifer laughed, leaning back and putting an arm around his boyfriend’s shoulders. 

“Belly rubs,” he whispered like a secret.

“Do those work on people too?”

With a thoughtful look that barely hid his smile, Cas slipped a hand up under Lucifer’s shirt and began tracing slow circles over his stomach and hips. “Are you starting to feel tired?”

He shook his head, leaning down into a soft kiss as he mumbled, “Feeling something, but it’s definitely not tired.”

“No?” Cas butted their noses together, nuzzling in before kissing slow and easy. 

They ignored the first few minutes of the movie, Castiel’s hand never leaving Lucifer’s skin, so warm and close while they made out like teenagers.

Feeling the phone in his pocket vibrating, Lu pulled back with a breath of an apology. 

Cas didn’t seem to mind though, sinking into the couch, relaxed.

It was a text from Sam and Lu squinted at it for a few seconds. The date continued to go badly, which wasn’t surprising, but it did put Lucifer in the awkward position where he really wanted to offer to drive out to the theater and pick up his roommate.

“I hope,” Cas let his hand trail down Lucifer’s leg, playing with the hole in the knee of his jeans. “I hope, I hope, that at some point in my life I find someone who smiles at me the same way that you smile at him.”

His breath caught in his throat, his stomach going tight as Lucifer looked up from his phone and carefully asked “ _ What _ ?”

“You love him so much,” Castiel sighed wistfully.

His mouth had gone dry, and Lucifer was fairly certain that the noises he managed to make couldn’t have been mistaken for proper words. 

“It’s very tender,” seemed to be the other man’s attempt to clarify, even though it didn’t help, “the way you smiled at him all through dinner every time you tried to make a joke.”

“No,” Lu finally managed.

He raised one dark eyebrow. “Why do you always have to get defensive when I point out the obvious?”

“I’m not.” He set his phone down on the arm of the couch, not replying to Sam’s text. “And there’s nothing  _ obvious _ about me and Sam. We’re just friends.”

“Sam and _ I _ ,” he corrected offhandedly, gently sliding Biscuit down to the puppy nest on the floor where he usually slept. With a soft sigh, Cas leaned back into the couch, looking up at Lucifer with a very long, very patient expression. “Since you and Sam are just friends, can you and I go back to kissing?”

A startled laugh bubbled out of Lucifer.

“I wasn’t done,” Castiel explained, resting a hand in the center of his chest.

His stomach was in knots as he looked down into his boyfriend’s very deep, very intense gaze. It was hard to keep from laughing. “You’re really just going to accuse me of being in love with my friend, and then ask to make out?”

Castiel’s fingers danced over the collar of his shirt, brushing against his throat as he simply answered, “Yes.” 

Lucifer laughed again, shaking his head.

“Is that a no?” He asked, raising one eyebrow.

Eager for a distraction from his own thoughts right then, Lucifer kissed Castiel’s upturned lips. Cas slid into his lap, tangling fingers in his hair and easily shifting those slow kisses into something hungry and rough with no room at all to overthink anything. 

It was almost midnight when Sam got home, the front door cracking open so slow and quiet, the gangly young man tiptoeing into the house and then stopping to chuckle when he saw Lucifer sitting on the couch. 

“Is it past his bedtime?” He whispered, nodding to where Castiel was tucked up on the couch under Lu’s arm, head heavy on his chest.

“He’s just catching a little nap before heading home,” Lu whispered back, feeling rather tired himself. Tired and satisfied from the lovely and partially naked distraction Cas had given him from his complicated thoughts. 

Thoughts that rushed right back to the surface as he sat there on the couch smiling at Sam. 

“How’d the date go?” Lucifer asked as casually as he could.

Sam chuckled, closing the door behind him and setting aside his house key. “Well… you really want to know?”

No. No he didn’t. 

“Yeah. Tell me all about your night on the town with that adorable little party boy. Was he as tasty as he looked?”

Something almost like a giggle wormed its way out of Sam as he came to sit on the coffee table, his knees on either side of Lucifer’s. “He wasn’t awful.”

“Is there a second date in the works?”

“God no,” he shook his head, resting his hands on the table. “But we made out during the movie, and that was kind of fun.”

“ _ Kind of fun _ ,” Lucifer repeated, chuckling.

“I still kind of hate that your boyfriend was right.”

Cas usually was, and Lucifer usually hated it as well. 

“You ready to take a break from dating for a bit?”

Sam shrugged one shoulder. “I hadn’t even planned to go out with Terrance, he just… I don’t know. He was happy and friendly and cute, and he asked me out and I couldn’t say no.”

“You got to learn to say no, Sammy,” Lucifer knocked one knee into his friend’s. “Even to cute, friendly guys.”

Sam drew his knees together, trapping Lucifer’s between his own for a moment before smiling and leaning back. 

“Especially to bubbly happy ones like that,” he tacked on, ignoring the butterflies in his stomach that tended to come with Sam’s touch. 

“And what’s wrong with me dating someone who’s happy?”

“I have to sit across from them during dinner?” He said with a laugh, gently tightening his arm around Cas as the other man stirred. 

Sam sat there, his knees still lightly brushing against Lucifers, while he watched Castiel slowly stir awake. “I, uh, I’ll let you two get to bed,” he offered softly. 

Cas hummed, sitting up straight and smiling at the two other men. “Bed?” He asked, looking at his watch and sighing. “It is late. I should get going.”

“You aren't staying over?” Sam asked, his knees still pushing against Lucifer’s, warm and solid.

“And sleep next to this blanket thief?” Cas smiled, turning to kiss Lucifer’s cheek. “No thank you.” 

Lu kept his eyes on the far wall, pointedly not looking at either of the men because he didn’t think he’d be able to keep his emotion from his face. His very complicated emotions as Cas stood, nudging Sam out of the way so he could lean down over Lucifer and kiss him very slowly, in a way that made it seem like there was no one else in the room but the two of them. 

It left Lucifer a little breathless, and he gently pushed his boyfriend away. “Alright, alright. You’ve got work in the morning, and you’re making it awkward for Sam.”

“I’m fine,” Sam called out, his voice much further away than the coffee table where he’d been sitting. 

Lucifer had to lean around Cas’ side to see that his roommate had wandered off into the kitchen. Feeling a wave of embarrassment, though he wasn’t sure why, Lucifer smiled tight lipped up at Cas. “Come on. I’ll walk you to your car.”

“Such a gentleman.” He smiled faintly.

“I always am.”

“You weren’t about half an hour ago.” Cas teased, suppressed laughter making his eyes bright.

It was such a surprising thing to hear the other man say, and stunned into a moment of silence, Lucifer felt heat rising up his neck. Clearing his throat he managed a slightly horrified, “You’re  _ not _ allowed to say stuff like that.”

“No?”

“No. You’ll make me blush.”

“But you don’t ever blush, Luci,” he said so very seriously. “You’re far too grumpy to blush, or to smile, or to have sex on the couch.”

Refusing to glance towards the kitchen to see if Sam was looking at them, Lucifer walked Castiel outside. 

The cold night air smelled like rain even though there were gaps of moonlit sky between the heavy clouds. The chill helped to sooth Lucifer’s burning cheeks, and clear his mind. His footsteps slowed and he took a long deep breath, letting it out and watching it fog up and drift away. 

“Hey, come here,” he murmured, mindful of his voice, not wanting to wake the neighbors. 

Cas glanced over his shoulder, taking two steps back until their arms brushed. 

Lucifer leaned down and brushed their lips together, smiling.

“And?”

“That was it,” he chuckled, shuffling his bare feet on the wet pavement as he gently cornered the other man, looping his arms around Cas’s trim waist. “It’s just cold out, and I’ve never kissed you when it’s cold.”

“There are many ways and places that we have not kissed, though I don’t think we’ll be getting many more opportunities.”

He laughed, his eyes widening a touch. “That’s… super ominous, Cassy.”

“I didn’t mean for it to be.” He smoothed his hands over Lucifer’s chest before curling his fingers over his shoulders. “But I  _ was _ awake when Sam came in.”

“What does that mean exactly?”

“It means exactly what I told you earlier, that I hope I eventually have someone who looks at me the way you look at him.”

“Cas―”

“You are so in love with him, Luci. It’s really beautiful to watch.”

He opened and closed his mouth like a fish gasping for breath.

“Now, I usually am more of a realist,” Cas confessed, slowly lacing his fingers together behind Lucifer’s neck. “You do know that about me. However, I feel incredibly fortunate that I get to witness first hand something so sweet and tender. From an observer’s standpoint it’s practically magical.”

“First off, how dare you. No. Shut up. No,” he said in a rush, running his mouth as he felt Castiel’s words sinking in. “And, and no. He’s just my friend. I mean, I like him, obviously. I couldn’t live with him if I didn’t. But we’re just friends.”

“Are you trying to convince me, or yourself?” 

“I’m not going to argue with you about this.”

“I am not trying to argue.”

“Are you trying to break up with me?”

A startled noise escaped Cas, his teeth flashing as he grinned. “Not until you’re ready.”

“Ready?” He laughed. “ _ Ready? _ ”

“Yes,” Cas’s breaths puffed between them, uneven little sounds as he chuckled. “I’d like to take my chances on the possibility of being present when you finally realise that you’re in love with him.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake. I’m not in love with him,” he growled, shaking his boyfriend, frustration making his words sharp.

Castiel looked utterly unimpressed. He pushed himself up to his tiptoes, making himself tall enough to place a kiss on the tip of Luci’s nose. “That’s fine. I can wait.”

“You’re impossible. You know that, right?”

“It has been brought to my attention before, yes.” Cas slowly sank back to rest his feet flat on the ground, but not before stealing a biting kiss. “I will see you this weekend?”

He pressed his head against the other man’s, grinding his teeth, fighting to keep his temper in check. He knew that he’d only feel awful afterwards if he yelled at Cas about this. Oh, but he wanted to yell. 

“Yeah. I’ll see you this weekend,” he finally agreed, giving Cas a crushingly tight hug, lifting him slightly off his feet so their faces were level. “I… I really don’t know what to do with you sometimes.”

“Give me a kiss and tell me goodnight,” he said simply before capturing Lucifer’s mouth in one last, lingering kiss. 

Even though he was tempted to pout and pull away, Lucifer wasn’t the sort who could ever turn down a good kiss, and he ended up leaning against Cas’s car and thoroughly telling him goodbye until they were both breathless and Lu couldn’t remember why he’d been so grumpy in the first place.

Sighing happily, he set his boyfriend back on the ground. “Get home safe, you little weirdo.”

He stood there watching until he couldn’t see Cas’s car any longer. It gave him time to try and clear his head. Time to digest everything that the other man had told him; and more than enough time to decide that Castiel obviously had no idea what he was talking about.

The inside of the house was nearly too hot after so long standing out under the sky, and Lucifer shrugged out of the jacket he’d been wearing, tossing it onto the back of a chair before going looking for his dog. Biscuit wasn’t in the usual nest of Sam’s flannel, but it didn’t take much hunting to find him. The dog was in the second bedroom, mercilessly destroying a sock while Sam sat on the floor beside him. 

“You two want some company?” Lucifer asked, eyeing the textbook on the other man’s lap.

“I was just going to be up until I’m done with this chapter,” Sam said, looking up and smiling softly, but it was an expression that quickly turned odd, his cheeks darkening, and he quickly went back to his school work.

Lucifer sank to the carpet, catching the sock Biscuit was chewing on and played tug-of-war until the little dog finally gave up and lay down, wagging faintly and panting. “So…” he dragged the word out, glancing sideways at Sam until he looked up. “You free this weekend?”

He nodded slowly. “Why?”

“I was going to head up to my Uncle’s place. The one where Gabe had that awful house party last year.”

“Yeah,” Sam’s little smile turned to a grin. “You hoping for some company?”

“I’m hoping for a puppy-sitter,” he clarified, instantly regretting asking as he watched Sam’s smile fade. “Just for one night. It’s cool if you don’t want to though. I can ask someone from work.”

“No. It’s ok. I’m happy to have him all to myself for a night.” Sam leaned forward, stretching out to gently scratch between biscuit’s ears. “You just needing to get away for a bit?”

He wished he hadn’t asked. “Yes and no. There’s this new planetarium opening up, and he’s a huge freaking nerd for stars so I bought a couple tickets.”

Sam’s face was pleasantly blank for an unpleasantly long time, until he smiled in an almost fragile way. “Things getting serious between you two?”

Relaxing a little, Lucifer shook his head. “Not really. But it’s almost his birthday and I know he’s far from home and missing his family, so I thought I’d try and… you know, whatever. It’s a surprise. He thinks we’re just going up to the beach house for a little mini vacation.” 

“I know you don’t mean to be, but you’re accidentally sweet pretty often.”

Lucifer frowned. “Am not, and… and you need to work on your trash talking.”

Sam leaned his head back against the side of his bed, chuckling. 

“I’m going to bed,” he grumbled, getting his legs under himself. 

“No good night kiss?”

Lucifer absolutely hated how easy it was for Sam to get under his skin. The kid was far too good at teasing and it wasn’t fair. “No,” he lifted his chin, trying his best to keep a straight face and not squirm under the weight of Sam’s gaze, or the memory of his earlier conversation with Castiel. “You’re terrible at giving friends a kiss goodnight. You miss the cheek every damn time, and I’m beginning to think it might be on purpose.”

Sam snorted, turning his face away for a moment. When he looked back his eyes were dancing with barely restrained laughter. “And how am I ever expected to get better at aiming for your cheeks if I don’t practice?”

“That’s some thin logic you’re using there.”

Arms were held out, and Sam looked up at him expectantly. 

“You’re terrible,” Lucifer sighed.

Sam flexed his fingers, waiting.

“I’m surrounded by trouble makers,” he complained, very aware that Sam knew how difficult he was being and obviously didn’t care.

“It takes a trouble maker to know a trouble maker,” Sam offered, taking hold of Lucifer’s wrists and stubbornly pulling him back down. “Goodnight, Lu.” 

Both of his cheeks were kissed, first the left, then the right, and his heart was pounding as Sam released his arms and let him go. Lucifer stayed there, bent over, his nose almost touching his friend’s as he looked at him for far too long. 

“You’re supposed to say ‘goodnight’ now,” Sam urged.

What he wanted to do and what he was supposed to do didn’t come close to matching up, and Lucifer felt his resolve weakening as Sam’s breath ghosted over his lips. He had to force himself to stand up straight and firmly stay, “I’m going to bed.”

“Aren’t I supposed to get a kiss goodnight too?”

“Biscuit will take care of it for me,” he promised, backing out of the other man’s room like the coward he was, getting nearly a hallway between them until he felt he could trust himself enough to say, “Goodnight, Sammy.”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	32. Chapter 32

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter we have happy boys doing things that make them happy, and then poorly communicating afterwards, which is probably what y'all came here for, right?

For the record, Sam loved his sweet little dog-son. Biscuit might have only weighed five pounds, but otherwise he was the perfect dog that Sam had dreamed of having since he was a little kid. However, loving the dog, and wanting to spend a weekend alone with the dog while Lu was off on a romantic weekend getaway, were two very different things. 

So, Sam put on a smile and said goodbye to his roommate Saturday morning, before settling in on the couch with class notes and his dog and ignored them both in favor of calling his brother to complain about how unfair life was. 

Dean, true to his nature however, was less than sympathetic.

“Why didn’t you just tell the son of a bitch that you wanted to go too?”

Even as inexperienced with this sort of thing like Sam still was, he knew better than to follow that type of suggestion. “Because you don’t invite yourself to go along on someone else’s date.”

“Maybe if you ever had the balls to tell him how you felt, then he wouldn’t be on a date with someone else.”

Sam scowled over the phone.

“I’m just putting it out there, Sammy,” Dean said without a single hint of compassion in his voice.

“He  _ knows _ how I feel,  _ Dean _ ,” Sam bit off the words, his teeth clicking. “According to Mike, Lu feels the same way about me, or at least he did back when we first met.”

“Dude! He kisses you―and not in some weird European kinda way. Just in a general he’s got the hots for you kinda way, so cut it out with the ‘ _ at least he did _ ’ pity party you’ve got going on.”

“He’s dating someone else, someone he really likes.” Sam ran a hand through his hair, letting out a rattling sigh. “If you saw them together then you’d get it.”

“So then just accept the fact you wanna bone your buddy, but your timing is way off, and get over it. Don’t know what you’re expecting from me on this one.” He made it sound so simple, like getting over someone was just an everyday thing and anyone could do it.

Sam let his head fall back, mapping out the shadows on the ceiling, while he tried unsuccessfully to rid himself of the aching in his chest. “I hate how this feels,” he said finally.

“You hate how it feels to see your friend happy?” Dean formed the question oddly, his tone saying he already knew the answer.

“No,” Sam sneered at his brother, resentful that he was being made to say it out loud.

“I was gonna say, because if that’s what’s going on? Then you’re a shitty friend.”

“I’m just… I’m just maybe a little jealous.”

Dean chuckled. “Just a little?”

“He was the first person I ever kissed, and I see him all the time, and he’s really cute. Yeah. I’m jealous he’s with someone else this weekend.”

“You do remember that I’ve met him too, right?”

“And?”

“He’s not  _ that _ cute.”

“You don’t even like guys, so shut up,” Sam grumbled, scooping Biscuit up into his arms. “Your opinion doesn’t count.”

“His brother though? Kinda hot,” Dean teased, his voice light and laughing. It was a distraction tactic, something to pull Sam out of his pity party. 

“Mike?” He smiled at the idea, and also because the dog was licking under his chin. “Yeah. He’s a little high maintenance, now that I know better, but yeah. He’s really―”

“Fuck Mike.” Dean butted in. “I’m talking about the little brother.”

“ _ Gabriel _ ?” Sam sputtered.

“Yeah, that’s the one.”

“Eww.”

“Yeah, maybe it’s more of a situational thing,” Dean mused.

“Can we please talk about something else?”

Dean grumbled, and Sam had the uneasy feeling that his brother had possibly been waiting months to share the juicy details of that one night stand with Gabriel and June. But Sam knew he could easily live his whole life without any elaboration. 

Sighing, Dean agreed, “Yeah, yeah. Maye when you’re older.”

Disturbed by the threat in his brother’s tone, Sam tried to drag the conversation back to his own problems, though the discussion was cut short when the front door opened and Lucifer came in like a storm. 

“Hey,” Sam sat up, the dog sliding from his chest down to his lap. “Everything ok?”

“It’s fine,” he practically growled, closing the door behind him hard enough that Biscuit barked. “Everything’s  _ fine _ .”

“You forget something?” He asked, his phone neglected and loose in his hand. 

Lu ran his hands through his hair as he let out a soft string of irritated sounds before finally explaining, “Cassy’s family also decided to surprise him for his birthday, with a plane ticket, home, yesterday.”

“ _ Yesterday _ ?”

“Yup,” he crossed and uncrossed his arms over his chest, “apparently he was so caught up in the excitement of going home that he forgot to call me and let me know we’d have to cancel our plans.”

Sam kept his mouth shut, refusing to voice any of the mixed feelings bouncing around inside of him. 

“I didn’t even want to go to the planetarium,” Lucifer complained, stomping across the room to throw himself onto the couch with a frustrated sound. His head came down to rest heavily on Sam’s shoulder. “I can’t change the date for the dumb, stupid tickets though, and now I’ve got to come up with a different perfect present for him, and this is… it’s stupid.” 

“Dean,” Sam hesitantly put the phone back against his ear. “I’ve got to go.”

“Offer to go with him,” Dean hissed.

“What?”

“Go.With.Him.You.Idiot.”

Sam thought of himself as brave, but not necessarily that brave. “I’ll call you back later,” he told his brother.

“Go with him,” Dean said in a rush, “it’s what a  _ friend _ would do.”

Stubbornly, Sam hung up the phone and set it aside before shuffling the dog around so he could have an arm free to put around his friend’s shoulders. “You’ll come up with something else to give him,” he assured. 

Lucifer let out a deflated sigh. “It won’t be as perfect, though.”

“Ok,” Sam steeled himself, “but hear me out. You should still go away for the weekend. Give yourself some time to clear your head, go to the planetarium anyways, maybe you’ll get some inspiration for a better gift.”

“Except it would be boring as hell to spend a weekend in that big house by myself, going on a date… by myself.”

“I could come with,” Sam did his best to suggest in a way that sounded like the idea had just occurred to him. “Keep you company. Help you brainstorm.”

Luci looked at him sideways, offering a slow and crooked little smile. “How did I know you were a big space nerd too?”

Sam didn’t have strong feelings one way or the other, but he could pretend. “It would be a shame for the tickets to go to waste. I just want to help you out.”

“How kind of you.” A breathy laugh escaped him. “What would I ever do without such a thoughtful friend?”

“Thoughtful and generous,” Sam pointed out. “I’m willing to sacrifice my whole weekend, just to help you out.”

Laughing a little harder, Lucifer reached out and patted Sam’s cheek affectionately. “Let me call work, see if someone there can take Biscuit until tomorrow. Go pack a change of clothes, and no text books. This is going to be a nerdy enough trip without you sitting around and studying all weekend.”

School was the last thing on Sam’s mind though, and he frantically texted his brother once he was alone in his room. He was hoping for advice, after all, his brother was the one who had encouraged him to go along in the first place. 

All Dean offered was his congratulations and a ‘good luck’

**What do I do if something happens!!?** , he texted, not even getting clothes together for tomorrow, just staring at his phone and waiting anxiously.

**pack condoms** , was Dean’s less than helpful answer. 

Sam shook the phone like he meant to strangle it.

He wasn’t frustrated at Dean. 

He was frustrated at himself for being dumb enough to go to Dean for advice. 

Which, admittedly, wasn't terrible advice. Perhaps a little too overly optimistic, but not actually a bad idea. 

God, but it felt way too optimistic, and Sam honestly had no idea how he’d handle himself if the need presented for him to fish the little box out from the bottom of his bag. He buried it under a pair of sweatpants and a change of clothes, then second guessed himself hard enough he had to dig the box back out. One single foil wrapped square got tucked into his wallet and the rest were thrown back into his dresser―and even that decision filled him with doubt. 

Bravely, he didn’t text his brother again. Sam was an adult and he could easily handle a weekend friend trip to the beach without having some kind of meltdown. Or at least he  _ should  _ be able to easily handle it. 

But he ended up sitting uneasily in the passenger seat of the truck while they dropped Biscuit off at one of Lu’s coworker’s place, followed by more quiet existential dread while they drove up the coast. Mercifully, his roommate seemed just as occupied, and didn’t notice Sam’s quiet brooding. 

“What the hell do you even buy a boyfriend for his birthday?” Lucifer suddenly shouted at no one in particular. “I’m no good at this sort of thing. We’re not romantic, so it’s not like I can do a nice dinner and then the rose petals on the bed kind of thing. He’s so… he’s just so logical and weird. I could probably take him to a petting zoo for an afternoon and he’d be thrilled.”

Sam looked at his painfully rambling friend. “So,” he leaned into the car door, “problem solved. Just find a petting zoo?”

“I’m not  _ romantic _ , but I do have standards, Sam.”

“We’ll think of something,” he promised, silently hoping that no better ideas were found and Lu and Cas would be forced to have a tame and not sexy birthday celebration. 

“For the love of god, who keeps texting you?” Lu reached between them, slapping at the phone that rested on Sam’s leg.

“It’s just Dean.” 

Dean with seemingly endless advice that Sam had been trying to ignore once it started getting too graphic. 

“Everything ok?” Lu glanced over. “You two were talking when I came home.”

“Yeah,” Sam dared glancing at his phone, and felt his cheeks heat up. “He’s just… also having some relationship issues,” he lied.

“Oh, so you’re just playing love doctor to everyone today, aren’t you?” 

“I’m the least qualified person.”

“Well, what’s going on? Maybe I can help―and it’ll give me something to take my mind off stupid Cas’ family stealing my perfect birthday present.”

“Just normal messy relationship stuff.” He tried not to squirm, pretending to look at his phone as he struggled for the best way to keep up the little lie he’d suddenly been caught in. “Do we have time to go to the beach once we get there? Or is it straight to the Planetarium?”

“Sure? As long as you’re not hoping to swim or something, because the water’s going to be freezing. Not that I’d be against snuggling your hypothermic ass beside the fireplace all night, but … you know, probably not well advised.”

“Maybe not today, but if I was going to let any man snuggle my ass it would be you,” Sam teased, grateful that his friend was driving and couldn’t turn to look at him while he laughed. 

And Lu laughed pretty hard at that one, wheezing and clinging to the steering wheel as he shook his head. “Well, I’m honored to be given that honor.”

“Good English there, Luci.”

“Sorry,” he snorted, grinning out at the road. “Getting a little braver with your joking there, Sammy.”

“Am I?” He asked innocently.

It was nice seeing his friend back in a good mood, and Sam relaxed into the gentle teasing and the rest of the comfortable ride up to the coast. 

Even though Sam had been to Lu’s uncle’s beach house once before, it had been one single chaotic visit that was mostly erased by copious amounts of liquor. So, after dropping his bag inside the door he wandered away from his friend to explore his surroundings. 

Though the cabin up in Tahoe had been comfortable, cozy, and drenched in that expensive ‘ _ don’t touch anything _ ’ feeling, the beach house had more of a sprawling, open ‘ _ don’t touch anything’ _ feeling. A subtle, but notable difference. 

“This place is huge,” he called from the kitchen, sure that he imagined the echo of his words bouncing back. 

“You’ve been here before.” Lucifer laughed.

“Yeah, but I really don’t remember much of it.”

“Want a tour?” He came into the kitchen, smiling. Lu pointed with both index fingers around the room. “This is the downstairs, and if you go that way,” he motioned back the direction they’d come from, “you’ll find stairs that go up. And that’s the upstairs.”

“Is that your idea of a tour?”

“You bet,” he leaned a hip against the counter. “Wanna go out for lunch, or buy some groceries and cook?”

“What were you and Cas planning to do?” The instant the question left Sam’s mouth he regretted it. They’d gone a good hour without mentioning the other man’s boyfriend, settling into the possibility of a little vacation that was just Sam and Lucifer. Selfish, yes. But Sam wanted what he wanted. 

“I was going to cook,” Lucifer said softly, his smile fading and his shoulders hunching forward. “It was his birthday so… a nice dinner.”

“I don’t see why we can’t still have a nice dinner. What’s your favorite food?”

“Chicken and dumplings,” he said without hesitation.

Sam laughed, not sure why that answer surprised him. “Ok. Then let’s go shopping and you can teach me how to make chicken and dumplings.”

It was a dish he’d had before, but absolutely nothing he’d ever had a chance to make, and the prospect of another cooking lesson with Lu was far more exciting than it had any right being. 

Ignoring the earlier talk of walking on the beach, the two went to the grocery store, and spent two hours making an absolute mess of the kitchen due to a flour fight that quickly got out of hand, changing to clean clothes and going to the planetarium. 

Which was one more thing that Sam had never done before. 

He really didn’t know what to expect, and though Lucifer teased him almost constantly for being a ‘nerd’, it was an absolutely amazing evening. Basically a museum of space exploration, Sam happily spent as long as he could looking at each and every display, while they waited for their ticket time to go into the theater where the solar system was projected across the tall dome ceiling. Constellations and asteroids and exo-planets, and up until that moment Sam honestly hadn’t thought of himself as a space-nerd. 

He turned to his friend in the dark of the theater, wanting to ask a question but instantly forgetting the whole of the English language as he realised that Lucifer had been watching him instead of the false sky overhead. 

The other man wore a soft, gentle smile that warmed Sam down to his toes and filled his stomach with bees. He looked away quickly, grateful for the dark because it hid the embarrassment burning his cheeks. 

Lucifer leaned into his side, warm breath making the hair on the back of Sam’s neck stand up, as he whispered, “You’re real cute when you’re geeking out.”

Sam elbowed his friend, struggling not to grin. “Shut up.”

“Make me,” he hissed back. 

All teasing should be considered equal, but somehow in the dark of the theater, with goosebumps marching up his arms, Sam felt those words differently. 

His gut told him to turn back to the other man and try to steal a kiss, but his brain screamed at him to absolutely not do that. To do anything at all other than  _ that _ .

Because  _ that _ was a very bad plan. 

A bad plan that wouldn’t leave Sam alone.

They made it back to the beach house, and it was much colder up north than back in Stanford, and Sam spent the drive with his hands held up to the little heating vent on the dashboard. 

“Can we do a fire in the fireplace when we get in?” He asked, rubbing his palms together. 

“Fuck yeah,” Lu chuckled softly. “Why do you think I bought marshmallows at the store?”

“I just figured you wanted to eat marshmallows.”

“Not  _ raw _ ,” he glanced over with a half smile, “I’m not a heathen.”

“Debatable,” Sam hummed under his breath.

His friend reached over and slapped his thigh. 

And kept his hand there.

The chill of his fingers seeping through Sam’s jeans, crawling under his skin, and coiling low in his stomach.

They got back to the beach house, and Lu set about making an unreasonably large fire in the fireplace, a nice distraction for Sam to curl up in the corner of a couch and panic text his big brother. 

**He touched my leg** , the words pounded out between his thumbs.

It took nearly a whole minute for Dean to text back,  **congrats????**

Sam pressed a corner of his phone to the dip below his lip, heavily questioning why he’d felt a need to update Dean on the progress, or lack thereof. 

“What goes with marshmallows?” 

Sam shook himself from the staring contest he’d been having with the far wall, turning in his seat to see his friend standing before a liquor cabinet with both hands on his hips. 

“I-I don’t know?” Sam lowered his phone to his chest, shaking his head and trying to collect his thoughts. “Something bitter, because it might go good with the sweetness of the marshmallows. But, Luci, do you think that drinking is a good idea?”

The blond looked over his shoulder as he spoke, “I don’t know a better way to warm up.”

“I think I’ll just have water.”

“Good. That was the plan,” he teased with an amused chuckle softening his words, “you’re still not old enough to drink.”

That last ditch effort to be responsible was ripped from Sam at the other man’s challenge. “Excuse you,” he sat forward on the couch, elbows on his knees, “I can drink whatever I want. You’re not my dad.”

“Thank god for that.” He came back to the fire, lowering himself to the rug and setting the full bottle beside him. “As many times as we’ve kissed… that would make things between us even more awkward than they already are. Yikes.”

“Is it awkward?”

“Sometimes,” he admitted, kicking off his shoes and sock, before angling his bare feet towards the crackling fire. “Like last week when you walked in on me? Awkward is an understatement.”

Sam didn’t need a reminder of that little less than stellar misstep on his part and his face instantly felt hot. “Other than that, though?”

Lu looked over, his smile gentle. “Other than that, we’re good.”

“Good,” Sam nodded, dropping his phone onto the couch and slipping down to the floor. He scooted along the very expensive feeling rug, his fingers sinking pleasantly into the deep pile as he setted in beside his friend. 

The bottle of dark amber liquid sat untouched between them. 

“You sure we’re ok?” He asked, stretching his legs out as well, mirroring the other man. 

Lu looked away from the fire’s red glow. “You do like asking that, don’t you?”

He shrugged. “It’s just nice to double check.”

“You’re so damn confident with everything else though.” 

Sam laced his fingers together, resting his hands between his knees, taking a turn staring into the dancing flames. “Not really.”

“Well,” Lucifer laughed suddenly, picking up the bottle and tipping it towards Sam like a toast, “good to know you’re human like the rest of us then.” He unscrewed the fancy looking cap and took a long drink straight from the bottle before offering it over to Sam. 

Reluctantly, he took it, sniffing the dark liquid and smelling hardly anything over the smoke and cedar scents of the fire. The drink slid down his throat without the usual roughness, hot and pleasant, and made him think of a cartoon he’d once seen with Dean where a rat was drinking cider and referred to it as ‘liquid gold’. Sam lowered the bottle with a thoughtful sound, turning it over in his hands, but it was a decanter, carved glass, and gave no hints to what on earth might be inside.

“It’s because it’s the expensive stuff,” Lucifer seemed to understand Sam’s thoughts. “If it was me and Cas we’d probably split a bottle of cheap wine, but…”

“But he’s not here so… you’re drinking the good stuff?”

“You’re here,” he clarified, taking back the bottle, “so  _ we’re _ drinking the good stuff.”

Sam didn’t understand, or even have a good guess as to what that was supposed to mean. He leaned back on his elbows, watching his friend drinking, and felt utterly lost. 

“Last time you were here was pretty shitty,” Lucifer said, his voice quiet. “You deserve some good memories to take home.”

“I really don’t remember any of the last time I was here.” Sam edged closer, until their legs were almost touching, and he could easily steal back the bottle. “So, if you’re worried about me, you don’t have to be.”

“Can’t turn off the worry, Sammy.” He leaned back on his elbows as well, letting his head fall back so he was looking up at the ceiling. “My cousin tried to steal your v-card, and you stole yourself your first kiss, before puking on the side of the road. You deserve some good memories.”

“Here now, I thought we’d come out here to fuss over you and think of a new birthday present for,” Sam’s teeth clicked together and he struggled to finish the sentence, “for Cas. Leave me out of it. I can handle myself.”

“Funny, but when I was dragging your drunk ass out to my truck last year, you told me the same thing,” he flashed a small grin, “And in all the time I’ve known you, I got to say, really don’t think you can handle yourself just yet. You’re getting better, but still not quite there.”

Sam kicked the other man’s leg. “I’m just fine, thank you.”

Lucifer kicked him back, grinning wider. “You are  _ fine _ . And you’re also welcome.”

Even knowing that a third kick was basically the same as yelling ‘fight me’, Sam couldn’t help himself. He pushed the bottle of liquor out of arm’s reach and used the momentum of the movement to push his friend over. 

It was easy to tell that Lucifer had a big brother of his own, because the moment that Sam laid hands on him that wild, bright, combative little brother look came to his usually pale blue eyes. He roughly grabbed Sam’s forearms and pushed him back, rolling with him in a tangle of legs and laughter as they shoved at one another like they were kids. 

Sam faintly remembered a sore and cold morning, waking up in the bed of his friend’s truck, sandwiched together, discovering that his friend was at least slightly ticklish despite all protests to the contrary. 

As a note, Dean had never been ticklish, or if he was he’d kept it a deep dark secret from Sam for years. Sam, being the younger brother, had always been on the receiving end of any and all tickle fights and it was very exciting to have the upper hand for once in his life. 

He got his hands up under his friend’s shirt, fingers skittering along unprotected ribs.

Lucifer’s eyes went wide and panicked, all his pushing and shoving instantly turning into a frantic struggle to escape. And after a few panting, laughing moments, when he realised that escape wasn’t an option, he went for trying to pin Sam down. 

Which also wasn’t an easy prospect. 

Sam was strong, and very determined, and very surprised when his friend wrapped him in a tight bear hug, trapping his hands up under Lucifer’s shirt, pressed flat and useless between their chests. 

Panting and grinning, Sam looked up at the man very forcibly crushing him into the carpet. “Ok, ok. You win.”

“That’s  _ right _ I win,” Lu grunted, his forehead resting against Sam’s while he caught his breath. “Gangly ass trouble maker.”

Sam chuckled, the sound tapering off into an uneasy sound as his body suddenly took note of the way that his thighs had been trapped between his friend’s, and the way that Lucifer’s breath tickled over his lips. “You win. Let me up.”

“Nah,” he wrinkled his nose, his eyes closing as his breaths slowly started to return to something less panicked. 

“Come on, you big jerk. You’re heavy. Let me up.”

“Make me.” The same words he’d used back in the planetarium, and they had the exact same effect on Sam.

His heart started to pound, and he was sure that the other man had to be able to hear it, or at very least feel it with how closely pressed together they were. 

Their mouths were already nearly touching and it required nearly no effort on Sam’s part, only a whole lot of bravery, to tip his chin up and press their lips together. 

Lucifer’s breath caught and his eyes flew open as he looked down at Sam. “Whoa now. You think one of your shitty friend-goodnight kisses are going to scare me into letting you up?”

“ _ Shitty _ ?” Sam repeated, grinning. “Never had any complaints from your brother.”

The noise that burst out of Lucifer was something between a laugh and abject horror. “Alright. Alright,” he released Sam from the grapple, and sat up, with his knees coming to rest on either side of Sam’s hips. A position they only held for one painfully long moment before he stood and retreated to the couch. 

It left Sam laying on the rug alone, hoping that half hard arousal he was feeling wouldn’t be noticeable through his jeans. Forcing out a harsh breath, he sat up, folding his hands in his lap and looking at the fire. 

One of Luci’s long bony toes prodded his shoulder. “Pass me the bottle, Sammy,” he very almost asked sweetly. 

“You want your gross marshmallows too?” Sam handed the bottle back, stretching to reach far enough without having to actually get up.

“Yes please,” he sang softly before taking two deep swallows from the bottle and laying back on the couch. 

He got to his feet, happy to hide out in the kitchen until he calmed himself down. The marshmallows had been left out on the counter along with the rest of their groceries that didn’t need to be refrigerated. He poked at the lumpy white puffs in the plastic bag, leaning slowly further and further to one side until he could see his friend sprawled out on the couch.

The longer he had to stand there watching the other man nursing their bottle of booze, and the way that Lu’s shirt had ridden up just enough to show a thin line of pale skin, the more Sam realised that giving himself time to think about this was a terrible plan. 

He tossed the marshmallows to his friend, before going to poke at the smoldering logs, stoking the flames back to life, before cautiously approaching the couch. 

“You gonna share?” He asked, raising an eyebrow and motioning to Lucifer’s long legs taking up every last couch cushion. 

The bag of marshmallows were held up. Lu shook the opened bag, not saying a word as he chewed on the mouthful of sugary goodness. 

“What happened to you not eating them raw?” Sam asked, pushing his friend’s leg aside and sitting on the far end of the couch. 

“I got snack-ish,” he mumbled with his cheeks puffed up like a chipmunk’s.

“You’re gross,” Sam chuckled, shifting in his seat as the other man’s legs came to rest over his lap. 

“I’m also  _ comfortable _ ,” Lu sang.

“Are you also,  _ also _ drunk?”

He hummed in place of an answer, bringing the bottle to his lips while he continued to chew his raw marshmallows. 

Sam stole the bottle, for a hesitant moment wanting to reclaim his wayward responsible intentions, and then realising that he’d much rather just keep up with his friend’s soft, well liquored smile. 

“I meant what I said earlier,” Lu’s head had fallen back against the arm of the couch, all boneless and graceful, “about you being really fucking cute when you’re geeking out. Not even in a flirting way. Just in a… a…” he hummed softly as he seemed to search for the words he wanted, “in a ‘men appreciating other men’ kind of way. Fuck toxic masculinity and all that. You’re beautiful.”

Sam squirmed in his seat and took a drink to try and hide his smile. 

“Cas gets that way too―all big dopey smiles and bright eyes like a kid in a toy store, and it’s really damn hard not to love the little nerd.”

Like a lightswitch, Sam’s giddy, excited feeling was suddenly doused. “You love him?”

“Course I do,” Lu laughed through his nose, passing a hand over his face. “Smart alek little weirdo that he is.” He laughed a little harder. “Oh god, did I tell you about him wanting to break up with me?”

“No,” Sam answered hesitantly, trying not to get his hopes up. 

Somehow he’d managed to forget just how difficult it could be trying to talk to Lu when he was drunk. 

Still laughing, his other hand came up to fully hide his face while he spoke. “That smart ass little weirdo, says he’d holding off breaking up with me until I realise just how in love with you I am. Like, have you ever heard anything so accidentally condescending? It’s just how he is, all the time, super blunt, but god damn it makes me crazy sometimes.”

Those were words that would have been hard not to read too much into, and Sam sat there holding his breath, feeling like he’d been punched in the gut.

Unsteadily, he took a long drink from the bottle, wishing it made him feel even half as comfortable and relaxed as it obviously made the other man.

Shifting, pulling himself up fully onto the couch cushions, Sam slipped a knee between his friend’s and crawled over him. Lu’s head came up, and his eyes were a touch wild, and incredibly unfocused as Sam settled in to lay down the length of the other man. Letting one arm slip off the couch, he set the bottle on the floor before folding his arms over Lucifer’s chest and resting his chin on top like a pillow. 

Their bodies lined up beautifully, hip to hip, feet curled together for warmth.

Sam lay there, turning his head so that his cheek was against an elbow, breathing deliberate and slow until he was able to let go of the tension between his shoulders. 

By the time Sam almost convinced himself to relax, he felt Lucifer’s hands folding together at the small of his back, the bag of marshmallows crinkling softly.

“You are the best blanket,” Luci sighed contentedly, his breath rustling Sam’s hair, “anyone ever tell you that?”

“No,” Sam whispered, “not exactly… but do you remember spring break up at the cabin when you drank a whole bottle of wine by yourself and used me as a body pillow?”

Lucifer’s chuckle resonated between them, the rumble easy to feel in Sam’s own chest.

“If I’m remembering right, that was the beginning of your ‘ _ it’s not flirting, it’s just getting comfortable _ ’ thing,” Sam said thoughtfully.

“It  _ is  _ comfortable, smart-ass. Friends should be able to spoon without it being weird.”

“This isn’t technically spooning,” Sam laughed, looking up at his friend, his mind feeling a little hazy and more than a little happy. “One of us would have to roll over.”

“So… would you say that this here is really more like…  _ forking _ ?”

Sam snorted, unfolding his arms to fit them down against his friend’s sides, resting his chin in the center of the man’s chest. “It’s not flirting, it’s forking?”

“Oh wow, if I had a dollar for everytime I thought about forking you…” Lu sighed wistfully, before digging a handful of marshmallows from his bag. Some went in his mouth, and at least two were pushed against Sam’s lips until he gave in and opened his mouth.

Lucifer’s calloused fingers lingered against Sam’s lips, stroking a rough line from one corner of Sam’s mouth to the other.

Stomach in knots, he opened his mouth, letting his friend touch him. Gently. So gently. 

He closed his eyes, focusing on that skin against skin contact and how something so small could make it so hard to think. He kissed Lu’s fingertips, drawing a shaking breath as one digit slipped past his lips. He could taste the sweetness of marshmallows against his friend’s skin, and under that, a sharp hint of sweat and wood smoke. 

Sam could feel Lu growing hard against his hip and he lost track of the plot for a moment, tracing his tongue along the dip between the two fingers in his mouth. Sucking salt from his skin, feeling a thrill as Lucifer carded his free hand through his hair, cradling the back of his head. 

The couch dipped as Sam dug his knees in, pushing himself forward, his friend’s fingers slipping from his mouth with a wet sound. He nosed up under Lu’s jaw, dragging teeth against skin, kissing his way along Lucifer’s rabbiting pulse to bite the edge of his ear.

Hands started to slip under clothes, and Sam dug his hips into the other man’s, rubbing against him in time to those liquor sweet breaths ticking his neck. 

Only one single thought was circling through him, and with a very one track mind of determination, Sam began to mouth his way downward, pushing up Lucifer’s shirt to drag teeth and tongue over a beautifully hard nipple and over the perfect arch of his ribs. Down, down, until he fit his mouth wetly over the dip of Lu’s hip, nuzzling against against soft skin and the trail of pale golden hair that trailed south from the man’s belly button 

“Sam,” Lucifer’s breath caught on that single syllable, his fingers twisting in Sam’s hair as he tugged a little less than gently. “Sam, stop.”

He didn’t want to. His whole body was trembling with need and want, a want he hadn’t been able to shake since the night he walked in on his friend touching himself. Sam opened his mouth, the denim rough against his tongue as he found Lucifer’s jeans already damp.

“Stop,” the man under him whimpered and hooked a leg over Sam’s shoulder, heel digging into his back, his words conflicting with his very encouraging movements. “Fucking hold up. Sam.  _ Sam _ .”

He looked up, not really prepared for how dark and hungry his friend’s eyes would be.

“Sam,” Lucifer pulled on his hair, his chest rising and falling far too fast. “You never fucking put another man’s dick in your mouth if you haven’t kissed him properly first.”

Sam laughed, startled, and he let himself be dragged up by the hands knotted in his hair.

After all,  _ ‘kiss me first’ _ , was an order he had no problem following. 

\-------

Sam woke with a detached relationship to the pounding behind his eyes, a hangover that thrummed along in rhythm to his heartbeat. Slitting his eyes open, he saw walls he didn’t recognise, a bed he didn’t remember, and an empty place beside him which he also didn’t remember. He stretched an arm out under the blankets, finding only the faintest traces of warmth lingering between the sheets.

The only clothes he could find were a discarded pair of jeans on the floor beside the bed. They weren’t his, but he pulled them on anyways, padding softly down the hall, finding his shirt on the stairs and putting that on as well. The stairs themselves were a problem, neither his hangover or his sore ass appreciating the long, downhill walk. 

Last night’s fire had long since burned out, the downstairs cold and strewn with spilled marshmallows and both Sam and Lu’s outermost layers of clothes which had been the first things they’d pulled off each other on their sloppy way upstairs hours before.

Lu was easy to find, leaning on the kitchen island with his elbows, head bent over a cup of coffee, to classes of water within arms reach, as well as a bottle of Aspirin. He didn’t seem to notice Sam walking up on him, not even a flinch as the floorboards softly creaked.

It didn’t give Sam a whole lot to work with, and he had to decide on his own how to say ‘good morning’ to the man who’d been inside him only hours ago. 

Bravely.

He would do this bravely, and like there wasn’t anything at all wrong between them, because why would there be? They were both responsible adults who were obviously attracted to one another and there was nothing at all wrong. 

Coming up behind Lucifer, Sam pulled his arms around his friend, resting his chin on the man’s shoulder. “Good morning,” he whispered, “I think I’m wearing your pants.”

Lucifer snorted, turning his head to steal an awkward kiss that only grazed the corner of Sam’s mouth.

“You weren’t there when I woke up,” Sam pointed out, pulling his arms more tightly around his friend, taking two handfuls of his shirt. “You feel cold.”

“Yeah, well, it’s cold in here.”

“It would be warm back in bed.”

Lucifer’s hands slid over Sam’s, gently prying his fingers free so he could slip away. “That’s… um... that’s not something I can do again.”

Sam’s heart hit the floor.

He stood there, his hands still in the other man’s, and couldn’t make himself say anything.

“Cas is going to be back in a few days,” Lucifer cleared his throat, trailing off.

Sam pulled his hands free and stook a step back.

“This isn’t something I can tell him about over the phone, Sam.”

“But you’re going to tell him about it?”

“Yeah,” he managed to meet Sam’s eye for an unsteady breath, “he’s still my boyfriend.” 

There was a ringing in Sam’s ears, and an open wound where his heart should be. He nodded, numbly. 

“Yep,” he forced the word out through an empty smile, “he is still your boyfriend.”

Lucifer watched him with an uneasy expression.

“What did you want to do for breakfast?” Sam turned away, going to the cupboard to look for a mug. He needed something to do with his hands, and fussing over coffee was the only thing he could think of without leaving the room―and Sam knew that if he left the room he’d have a very hard time making himself come back. 

“What do  _ you  _ want for breakfast?” Lucifer answered unhelpfully.

Sam didn’t want food. 

He wanted to go home, but he absolutely wasn’t ready for the hour long car ride sitting beside the other man.

Sam moved through the kitchen on auto pilot, his thoughts tumbling over last night, and how Luci had pulled him upstairs, fingers hooked thought Sam’s belt loops, kissing with each and every step they took, His thoughts stuttering when he remembered that he’d woken up alone in their bed. 

He opened the fridge and stood there numbly, nearly jumping out of his skin when he felt a hand gently smooth over the small of his back. 

Not even turning around, Sam hardly opened his mouth to say, “You know, we didn’t really buy anything at the store for breakfast. We should go out.”

“Sam,” Lucifer fit his hands over his hips from behind. 

“No. You’ve still got a boyfriend,” Sam closed the fridge and moved around the other man, keeping a very deliberate distance while he went to go open up a cupboard and pretend to be looking for food. There wasn’t any kind of a response from Lu, and when Sam risked a sideways glance over, he only saw a defeated look on the other man’s face.

“Breakfast?” Sam asked, hardly holding himself together.

“Yeah,” Lucifer nodded, a small crooked smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “Breakfast. We can sort out the rest of this mess later.”

Sam wasn’t interested in ‘ _ later’ _ though. 

There wasn’t anything left to sort out. ‘ _ I have a boyfriend’ _ did a pretty damn good job of sorting out the details as far as Sam was concerned. 

It was an excuse. 

It was a: ‘ _ I want to still be friends, because even though I spent the night underneath you, I do still have a boyfriend to go home to. So, thanks but no thanks, and we can’t let this happen again _ ’.

At least, that’s what Sam took away from their silent breakfast and the long ride home.

By the time they got back into Stanford, Sam was itching to put some space between him and his friend as all that hurt he felt had started to sour into something much closer to anger.

He wished that he’d have showered before they left the beach house. He wished that he didn’t have to sit there, smelling Lucifer on his skin, while the other man left the truck in the parking lot in front of the animal shelter so that he could go inside and retrieve Biscuit from the co-worker who’d been roped into puppy sitting the night before. 

Trying to distract himself, he pulled out his cell phone and turned it on for the first time since going to the planetarium the night before. As the little rectangle screen booted to life a flood of message alerts began to go off. 

Apparently Dean really, really wanted to know how Sam’s ‘romantic weekend getaway’ had gone.

**hes got a bf** , Sam texted irritably,  **how do you think it went?**

Dean’s reply was almost instant,  **thought you boys would find a way to work around that**

Sam sank down, the seat belt digging into his shoulder.  **we did** , he typed,  **3times. but it was a accident and hes got a boyfriend**

And though the little ‘read’ check mark appeared, Dean didn’t seem to know what to say to that immediately. 

Lucifer was coming back to the truck, a wiggly puppy in his arms, and Sam jammed his phone back down into his pocket so he’d have his hands free to take Biscuit, which really was the only nice thing to happen to Sam that day.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	33. Chapter 33

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okie dokie, my friends, so little appology on the lack of an update. We've had nearly a month straight of 100 degree weather in my corner of California so my brain feels like it's melted.   
Which means that even though this chapter's been done almost a week, I forgot that I didn't post it yet :[  
but it's a long chapter, so hopefully you'll forgive?
> 
> It's also the second to last chapter, and I should be actively working on the last few paragraphs of the final chapter, but I've gotten myself good and distracted somewhere between two new stories.  
One is a Ducifer, because yum  
and the other is for FFVX, which is probably no one's jam but my own... but it's good to write little fics for different things now and then? D: so um... hit me up if that's also your thing? I'd love to have some chocobro buddies <3
> 
> between half the states being on fire and the other half under water, I sincerely hope that all of you lovelies are safe! and for any of you overseas, hope you're staying strong and sane during these weird times <3

Cas’s flight was scheduled to land late Sunday night, and Lucifer was not good at waiting, especially not for bad things. He’d spent most of the day pacing the house, wishing that Sam didn’t have studying to do in his room, because he’d have made for a wonderful distraction from the impending breakup conversation he was going to have that night.

Not that he didn’t think that Cas would take the news well. 

The issue was that Castiel would take the breakup  _ too _ well.

Lu hated that the other man had been so very right, figuring out what was going on in Lucifer’s head long before he could figure it out for himself. 

A text came in at half-past ten, Cas’s plane had landed, and he would be right out.

It turned out that a day of overthinking what he was going to say to his boyfriend hadn’t been enough time, and when the passenger door to his truck opened, he knew he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t start off this conversation with an angry accusation because how dare Castiel, a man with zero interpersonal skills, read him like a book.

“Hey, handsome,” Lu said with a soft laugh as the other man slid over the seat to kiss his cheek. 

“Hello, yourself,” Cas settled into his own seat, setting his little overnight back down at his feet. “Thank you again for coming to pick me up.”

“What are boyfriends for?” He joked, but very quickly lost his smile. “Hey… not the best way to say ‘welcome home’ but I, um, I took Sam with me to the beach house since you couldn’t go.”

Cas nodded, smiling. “I’m glad that you still got to go. You’ve been stressed lately.”

“Still am.”

Frowning, Castiel cocked his head to one side and gently put a hand on Lu’s arm. 

“Slept with Sam last night,” he said it fast and didn’t feel nearly as relieved to get the confession as he thought he would. 

His boyfriend’s reaction didn’t help.

“Was it romantic?” Cas clasped his hands together over his heart and smiled wistfully. “Did you two look at the stars together, and then get lost just gazing at each other?”

A car parked behind them began honking, obviously irritated that they were still idling in the passenger pick-up.

Gritting his teeth, Lucifer started to drive, winding his way through the maze of a road leading from the airport out to the highway. 

“No,” he finally said, realizing that the man beside him was actually expecting an answer. “It was a little drunk, and a lot of fun, but not… not really romantic.”

“Why not?” Cas demanded, honestly sounding angry. “All that build-up, for what? At least tell me that you two woke up next to each other this morning, and you touched his cheek, and gazed at him, and told him you love him.”

He grumbled, gritting his teeth. “No. Didn’t do any of that either.”

“Luci,” Cas said like a warning, “you didn’t do something stupid, did you?”

“No,” he wanted to yell, but settled for holding his shoulders uncomfortably tight. “I didn’t do anything stupid. I didn’t do  _ anything  _ at all today. I need to sort things out with you first, and Sam gets that.”

“So, sort me out, and then tell him you love him.”

“I will―”

“And I want to be there for it.”

“No,” Lucifer looked over, feeling horror at the suggestion. “Why the hell would you want to be there?”

“Because it’s romantic!” 

Lu didn’t think he’d ever heard the other man raise his voice, at least not outside the bedroom, and it was actually a little intimidating. “Yeah well,” he frowned at the road, “get your romance fix somewhere else, Cassy. This is awkward enough without an audience, especially a freshly ex-boyfriend kind of audience.”

“Well, can I at least come over and talk to Sam about how it was?”

He glanced over out of the corner of his eye, uncertain where this was going or why. “How what was?”

“How sleeping with you went. Since he’s been with both you and your twin brother he’d probably be able to make some very interesting observations on―”

“Cas. No. Just no.”

“Not right now, or not ever?”

Lucifer glanced over a second time, not sure why he’d been given such a strange boyfriend. “Probably not ever.”

He folded his arms. “That doesn’t sound fair.”

“You’re just going to have to find yourself a different set of twins, get down and dirty with them both, and figure things out for yourself.”

“How is that unbiased data? I can’t be part of the experiment.”

It was a stupid thing to argue about. 

But he’d rather argue over scientific data collection, than talk about how his boyfriend had been painfully right about Lucifer’s shifting emotions, or discuss the fact that he’d cheated on his boyfriend multiple times in a single night. 

He dropped Cas off at home, amidst promises that he’d send updates via text, and really unsure what he’d done to deserve such a good friend. 

Cas might have been pretty nutty, but he was also pretty damn understanding, and apparently a hopeless romantic―and Lu was determined to make this mess up to him somehow. 

But he had more pressing things to do with right then, namely going home and kissing the guy that he’d taken way too long to realize he’d fallen in love with. 

It was the stupid trip to the planetarium that finally woke him up, standing there with the false sky above them, watching Sam grinning like a little kid. Like a slap across the face, Lucifer suddenly realized that how he felt watching Cas geek-out about space would never compare to how he felt when seeing that same light in Sam’s eyes. 

He parked his truck and jogged up to the house, his chest feeling tight with anticipation. Biscuit didn’t greet him at the door like normal. What he did see on stepping into his home, however, was a mostly nude stranger reclining on his couch while they checked their phone. 

The guy glanced up through a mess of blond curls, giving Lu a lazy smile, before turning back to his phone, his little sock covered feet bouncing happily.

“Who the hell are you, and why is your bare ass on my couch?” Lu kept his hand on the doorknob, half convinced that he’d walked into the wrong house. “Wait, wait, you’re the little twink who wanted me to buy you a drink.”

“Terrance,” he offered, glancing up and grinning. 

Lucifer had never had to mentally prepare himself for what he would do when faced with a man wearing only socks and a bellybutton ring, and it took him a few seconds to pull himself together. “Where are your clothes, you little underaged creep?”

“I think in the kitchen,” he bit his lower lip, stifling a laugh. 

“Why?”

“Because it’s hard to have sex in the kitchen with my clothes on?”

Lucifer took a shaking breath, letting those words sink in, letting his mind connect the dots. “Where’s Sam?” He asked carefully.

“Shower,” was the simple answer as he went back to his phone. 

Closing the door behind him, not bothering with the lock, Lucifer stalked his way into the kitchen, collected up the cute pair of skinny jeans, and the hot pink t-shirt that obviously wouldn’t fit Sam, and then threw them at the man on the couch. 

“Get dressed and get out.”

Terrance looked up, raising an eyebrow, and lowing his phone. “Wow. Rude.”

“Or don’t, and I’ll just throw you out how you are. Your choice.” Anger kept his words short and harsh. 

Complaining the whole time, Terrance began pulling his clothes on with deliberate slowness. 

Lucifer wasn’t that patient though. As soon as the top button of those skinny jeans had been buttoned, he started shooing the little blonde towards the door.

“Hold up,” Terrance slapped at Lucifer’s hands, “I need my shoes and my jacket.”

“You  _ need _ to get the hell out of my house.”

“Bitch, I’ll go when I’m ready to go.”

The little homewrecker had guts, and under other circumstances Lucifer might have been able to respect that. Instead, he grabbed the man by his slender wrists, strong armed him out the front door, and slid the deadbolt into place.

Though he would have loved to ignore the sudden yelling and pounding coming from outside, Sam had come out of his shower, dripping wet and holding his town around his hips. 

It was a sight that stopped Lucifer in his tracks, for the smallest movement making him forget what he was so mad about. 

The continued banging at his front door brought him right back though. 

“What’s going on?” Sam demanded.

Lucifer only grunted, eyes searching the room for the extra shoes and clothes that didn’t belong, before he opened the door and tossed them out on the porch. 

Locking the door once more, Lu turned back to his roommate. “Someone left some trash on the couch. I was just tossing it out.”

Sam’s wet hair was dark and slicked back from his anger reddened face as he drew a sharp breath through his teeth. 

“In my kitchen? In  _ my _ kitchen?” Lucifer demanded into the deafening silence that was spreading out between them.

“I pay rent here. It’s my kitchen too.”

Lu wasn’t in a mood for a logical argument.

Sam kept going though. “Excuse me if I can’t just conveniently go to my boyfriend’s house when I wanna fuck him. You’ll just have to deal with me bringing him over here some times.”

“You’re  _ dating  _ that little gremlin?”

”Or whoever I’m dating,” Sam’s reply wasn’t quite the same as an answer.

It had been months since Lucifer had lost his temper, but familiar knots were twisting in his stomach, and he ran shaking hands through his hair in a useless effort to relieve some of the tension he could feel building. 

“So― so what is this? You’re just going to―” Lucifer’s words stuttered as he struggled to get them out, “to just basically turn into Michael and start screwing some― some new son of a bitch each night?”

“If I want to, yeah.” Sam bore his teeth in a smile that left his eyes cold and dark. “After last night’s giant mistake, I figured why not just keep it going and complete my amazing weekend of bad fucking ideas?”

“Are you―are you  _ seriously _ putting me in the same category as that skinny jean wearing, ninety-five pound, party-favor?”

“When you say it like that you sound almost jealous.”

“Jealous?” He nearly choked on the word.

“Jealous,” Sam repeated, slowly, like he wanted to make sure that Lucifer understood the whole word. “And I’m sorry, but you already had your chance with me. I moved on. You should too.”

Lucifer’s feet were nailed to the floor as he watched the other man walk away. Biscuit came running out of Sam’s bedroom the moment the door swung open, and then Sam was gone.    
The door closed firmly behind him, and Lu was left to stand numbly as the dog sniffed at his ankles and begged for attention. 

It took half of forever for Lucifer to shake himself free of that raw, gutted feeling. His mind was a jumble of plans gone wrong, of confusion and anger, and of one very important point that needed clarifying. 

Stepping over the dog, he stormed down the hall and kicked Sam’s door. “Wait a goddamn minute. Just a goddamn minute.” He kicked the door again. “No. Get out here, you jerk, I’m not done talking to you.”

“Go away.”

“What are you, five? No. I’m not going away. Get your ass out here and talk to me or I’m coming in there.”

Sam said nothing.

Unfortunately for the kid, Lucifer had grown up with Mike as a brother, and there was no level of sullen silent treatment that would work on Lu. He’d grown immune to it all years ago. 

The locked door only slowed him down. 

He easily picked the lock with a long nail from the kitchen, and threw the door open to see Sam half dressed and glaring daggers at him. 

“Get out,” Sam demanded.

“Get your shirt on,” Lucifer countered, knowing full well that he wouldn’t be able to properly argue with a man dressed only in sweatpants. He’d spent far too much time the night before, kissing down those sharp lines of the other man’s hips, and that was not an easy to shake memory. 

Sam angrily pulled on his shirt and pushed his hair back behind his ears, before stomping across the distance between them to push Lucifer back out into the hallway. “Get.Out,” he repeated, raising his voice.

Lucifer wasn’t that easy to shake, however, especially not when he knew he was right. Frustrated, he grabbed hold of the other man’s wrists and planted his feet firmly, refusing to be moved. “No. I’ve known you for a year, Sam, and I didn’t imagine what’s going on between us. What the hell is this all about?”

“What, so you’re the only one allowed to change his mind?” Sam pushed into him, their chests almost touching as he continued to try and clear his doorway. 

“I didn’t change my mind. I just needed to go talk to Cas.”

“Yeah. Cas. Your  _ boyfriend _ ,” the word came out barbed and dangerous. “You fucked me last night, and then changed your mind this morning and went right back to your boyfriend.” He twisted his arms, trying to pull them free. “Did you really have the guts to actually tell him what we did last night? Did you? How you came inside me? Twice? Or how we fell asleep in each other's arms? Did you tell him all about that?”

“No! I just told him I’m in love with you.”

Sam stopped struggling, though he kept his weight pressing against Lucifer’s chest. “You didn’t.”

“Course I did, and the little jerk was so damn smug because he’d already figured it out nearly a month ago.” He sighed., still not quite over Castiel’s annoyingly accurate intuition. “You can call him if you don’t believe me, but do it at your own risk, because he really wants to use you as the subject of a research paper he’s doing and it’s going to involve a lot of awkward questions about you having successfully bedded a set of twins.”

The corners of Sam’s mouth were pinched, conflicting emotions making his eyes dance. “Why… why would you tell him that you’re…” the question trailed off and he looked at a spot over Lucifer’s shoulder before firmly saying, “you’re not.”

“Sorry about your bad luck, but yeah, I kind of am.” He relaxed his hold on Sam’s wrists, slowly letting their hands come together. “Apparently I was supposed to tell you romantically somehow? Not really sure if it was supposed to be a before or after sex kind of thing, either way, I didn’t yesterday when I should have. And this sure as hell isn’t turning out great. And I suck at romance, in case you hadn’t already noticed.”

A sharp laugh filled the space between them, and Sam shook his head as he laced their fingers together, sweaty palms showing a nervousness that wasn’t in his voice. “Both.”

Lucifer fought back a frown, tilting his head to ask hesitantly, “Both?”

“You tell me right now,  _ before _ ―” Sam instructed in a whisper, taking two steps forward, forcing Lucifer to stumble backward. 

The hallway wall stopped their momentum, and Lucifer swallowed hard as he found himself pressed flat against his own door jamb, the handle digging into the side of one hip.

Sam kept crowding him, even though there was no more room to retreat. His hot breaths ghosting over Lucifer’s lips. 

“― and then you tell me again in like two minutes when it’s  _ after _ ,” Sam finished.

Lucifer laughed breathily, his heart in his throat, and he was positive that the other man had to be able to feel his hammering pulse through their joined hands. “You think it will only take us two minutes?” 

“If last night was any indication, yeah,” Sam teased with a sudden softness, gently butted their foreheads together, pulling Lucifer’s arms around his waist very deliberately.

“Whoa,  _ whoa _ . Not fair! It was only that first time on the couch, and only because we’d been kissing for like half an hour before we finally―” he tried to explain, but the argument got lost as Sam cupped both his cheeks and crashed their mouths together. 

All Luci managed to do for a long while was kiss back, his hands pressing into the tight muscles of his friend’s back. Whimpering hungriy, like they hadn’t just been doing this less than twenty-four hours ago. 

It felt like it had been a year. 

It felt like the last time he’d been able to touch Sam was on a rainy night while they were huddled in the cab of his truck, with a flat tire and nothing but time to kill. Like he could still taste liquor on his lips from when the bean-pole of a kid had tried to climb him, kissing him clumsily and telling Lucifer that he had pretty eyes.

“I love you, you jerk,” Sam breathed the words into his lungs, forcing them deliberately between kisses, like he meant to trade them for oxygen. 

Lu could live off words like those. He could die from words like those.

He fumbled with the door handle that was making bruises at the small of his back, pulling Sam with him into the bedroom and tripping over the squeaky dog toys on the floor, laughing as they fell together into bed.

Very likely, none of it would clear Castiel’s definition of ‘romantic’.

Especially seeing as Lucifer didn’t manage to get in those three little words ‘before’ he found himself in Sam’s lap, gripping the headboard as the other man guided his hips with strong hands, odd words slipping out between agonisingly slow kisses that matched the almost painfully slow pace of Sam’s thrusts. 

Lucifer managed to last longer than the teasing ‘two minutes’ that had been suggested, but only because Sam had surprising control for someone who was still relatively new to the game. 

It was still over too soon, and nagging part of Lucifer’s brain wondered if it had something to do with Sam’s ‘friend’ who’d been there when he’d come home earlier. Hunched forward, his spine bowed and trembling, his face buried in the bend of Sam’s neck, with the sharp tang of the other man’s sweat on his tongue and the musky scent of sex between them, Lucifer decided that he didn’t care. 

Fuck all the Terrances of the world. 

They didn’t matter.

Same for Michael, and that one girl who’d only lasted a week. 

None of them mattered.

Shaking, Lucifer placed his hands against the slick planes of Sam’s chest and sat up. 

They hadn’t managed to get the light before falling over one another in search of a horizontal surface, and the bed was cut at an odd angle from the yellowed rectangle of light spilling in from the hall. Sam’s hair had never got a chance to dry after his shower, sweat had left loose strands plastered over his cheeks and high forehead. His stomach still rose and fell quickly with shaking breaths, the sticky smear over his sun kissed skin catching oddly in the light. More of that stickiness was running down the inside of Lucifer’s thigh and over Sam’s beautiful hips.

And it was the prettiest thing that he’d ever seen.

Like he could feel the older man’s gaze on him, Sam’s eyelids fluttered open, barely catching the light, as a warm, happy smile bloomed on his kiss bruised lips.

Lucifer felt his heart give that same panicked flutter that it had the night before when they’d been at the planetarium, the feeling just as overwhelming as the first time he noticed it.

“I really fucking love you,” he said simply.

Sam laughed, his voice surprisingly still low and wrecked sounding. “You really do suck at being romantic.”

Lu laughed too, shaking his head and grinning like an apology. “I promise I’ll work on it.”

“Say it again,” Sam encouraged, sliding his hands to either side of Lucifer’s ribs, pulling their bodies back together, warm and perfect.

“I started falling for you the first night we met,” Lu averted his eyes, acknowledging that awkwardness that had taken him nearly a full year to notice. “Grumpy, gangly kid who fell asleep on me because you were too drunk and hungover to give me proper directions back to your dorm. I couldn’t get that grin of yours out of my head… yeah, that one,” he chuckled, smiling back at the man grinning up at him, “and I’ve loved you for way too long without saying it.”

It was evidently Sam’s turn to look away, ducking his head and hiding his face against one of Lucifer’s shoulders, holding him tightly. 

“Same,” Sam whispered, “except I figured it out last spring.”

Lucifer snorted softly, resting his cheek against his friend’s damp hair. He didn’t ask why Sam hadn’t said something sooner. They were both idiots with bad timing. “Good thing we can skip the awkward dating and we’re just living together now?”

Sam wrapped his arms around Lu and squeezed him, firmly saying, “Nope. I demand awkward dating. I want dinner together, and to hold hands during movies, and to stay up late talking like we’re getting to know each other.”

Sitting there, curled around one another was very convenient for Lucifer to hide the stupid smile he wore. With a chuckle, he looped his arms around the other man’s neck and nodded. “Yeah. Ok. I like that.”

With a bit of rearranging, they both laid down, still tucked together and leaving more than half the bed unused, because why lie on the mattress when Lucifer could lie on Sam? There were some sleepy kisses, and some light touches that quickly lost any illusion of innocence, but Sam pulled back before it got too far. 

His nose brushed against Lucifer’s, as he cleared his throat and artfully avoided another kiss. “Not to start an argument or anything, but um, did you and Cas use protection?”

Of all the questions he could have been given, Lu was not mentally ready in that moment to answer that specific one. He blinked and leaned back enough to properly look at the other man. “Yeah? Most of the time anyways.”

Sam got a small frown.

“What?”

He shook his head, dark hair spilling over his eyes. “I told you, I didn’t want to start an argument.”

Lu rolled onto his back, but kept his head turned towards Sam. “It was an innocent, and honestly confused ‘what’. I swear. If I was looking for a fight I would have asked if you and Terrance used any earlier tonight.”

Sam’s eyebrows hitched up. “Fair. But also, you’re a jerk.”

“A jerk who usually uses protection,” Lucifer gave small finger guns, but could tell that the chances of a second round of sex were already rappidly slipping away. 

“Well, you didn’t tonight, so…”

It hadn’t been at the front of Lucifer’s thoughts when Sam was pulling him into his lap. He’d barely been focused enough to grab lube from the nightstand, and no one would blame him for being a little too distracted to work out all the logistics. 

He let himself sink into his pillow, blowing out a puff of breath. “Ok, but your list of partners is painfully short, and I’ve been tested recent-ish… and it’s not like one of us can get pregnant. So, probably not a concern? Don’t let it worry you?”

“Alright,” Sam curled on his side, one knee hooking up over Lu’s thigh, “tiny bit offended at the ‘painfully short’ comment, because I think you meant it to be offensive, and I was only one hundred percent of the time with Bela… so…” he let the thought trail off, looking pointedly at Lucifer and waiting.

The idea that anyone who’d been inside of his brother had also been inside him, was at least a little bit of a turn off, but not nearly as much as it should have been and Lucifer pointedly said, “Ew. Michael cooties.”

“...and Terrance.”

“Sam!” Lucifer scooted away, only partially playing up the horror. “Tell me you didn’t. Who knows where that guy’s been?”

“He said he was clean.”

Lucifer lay there, wondering how much he trusted the word of that miniature party boy he’d thrown out of his house earlier, and decided rather quickly that if Sam was having some reservations about it, then then a bit of mistrust was probably fine. 

“Fantastic,” Luci folded his arms over his eyes, “so, tomorrow morning we can both go get tested for god knows what, just to be sure, and new rule of no matter how angry one of us is at the other, no unprotected sex with strange men as revenge.”

“I wasn’t… yeah. Ok,” Sam curled closer and kissed Lu’s shoulder. “You make me stupid angry sometimes.”

“I make  _ myself _ angry sometimes.” Most times, actually. Lucifer would always be his own worst critic. 

Sam pressed his face into Lu’s shoulder, his words soft when he finally seemed to summon up the courage to ask, “Just so we’re clear though, you and Cas  _ did _ break up, right?”

“Really super broken up,” Lucifer promised, chuckling. “I would have done it sooner, but he wanted to hang around in hopes of being there when I finally figured out how in love with you I am. Apparently it was really obvious.”

Sam chuckled against his shoulder.

“Though, full disclosure, I did give him a kiss goodbye, because hot damn, that man can kiss. Like, if you ever have the chance? I highly recommend it. I swear he could make you come with just his mouth,” Lu let out a shaking sigh at the memory of that parting kiss before Cas took his bag and hopped out of the truck, wishing him good luck. 

He opened his eyes when Sam sat up, and grimaced when he saw the very salty scowl aimed at him. 

“ _ Another _ new rule,” the younger man said, swinging his leg over Lu’s hip to sit on his legs, “while you and I are still wet with each other’s… juices, there’s no talking about exes and how hard they made you come, or how good of kissers they might be, or anything else along those lines.”

Lucifer grinned, resting his hands on Sam’s thighs. “Juices?” He asked, slowly trailing his hands up to Sam’s hips and stomach, and the still sticky traces clinging to his warm skin. 

“Shut up,” Sam batted at his chest, chuckling softly.

“ _ Juices _ ,” he repeated, curling his fingers around the other man’s shoulders and pulling him down to whisper against his mouth, “You think I can squeeze a little more juice out of you tonight?”

“Not if you’re going to say it like that, no,” Sam said through a laugh, kissing Lucifer long and slow.

“What if,” Lucifer broke the kiss just long enough to get word out, “I say it like ‘let’s you and me make some more juices?’”

Sam laughed again, pinching Lu’s sides. “That’s worse.”

“You’re my favorite flavor of juice?”

“Stop, or I’m going back to my own room.”

“I could drink you every morning,” Lucifer looped his arms around Sam’s shoulders, not letting the chuckling man retreat, “you’ll be part of my balanced breakfast.”

“You’re the worst.”

“Yeah, but you love me,” he touched their noses together, his chest feeling tight as Sam stubbornly agreed, before resuming those long distracting kisses. 

___________________________

Though he’d said it all in teasing, Lucifer was actually very much ok with following Sam’s insistence that it had been a legitimate offer to make him part of Lu’s breakfast. Or at very least an after shower, and after breakfast treat. A favor which was returned, and Lucifer found his knees a little shaky afterwards, and he was happy to pass the truck keys off to Sam, so that the younger man could drive them both to the college. 

HE was fairly certain they would both be given a clean bill of health, but Sam was pretty insistent, and it was really better to be safe even if technically they’d already burned that bridge the night before. 

The clinic at the college was closest to their house, and then Sam could head to class and Lu could go off to his afternoon shift at work-- which all seemed convenient and easy, but really, the only reason he’d agreed was that Michael no longer worked on campus, but had finally started his fellowship at the local hospital. 

The idea of adding his big brother to the mix was enough to make him want to tell Sam to ‘fuck it all’ and convince him to just stay in bed together for the rest of the week. 

Only problem with it all was that, sitting in one of the exam rooms, tracing slow circles over Sam’s knuckles where the younger man’s hand rested on his knee, the nurse who finally came in to talk to them was not a nurse.

It was Michael with a nice clean lab coat on over his scrubs. 

“How and why?” Lucifer demanded before the door even closed. 

Michael grinned, his eyes dancing mischievously as he looked at how Sam and Lu were holding hands. “Well, I was back in the break room, regretting covering this morning shift for a friend, when someone popped their head in and asked if I had a brother.”

“I hate this,” Lucifer said simply. He tried to stand and leave, but Sam caught him by the back pocket and pulled him down into the chair. “I demand a new doctor. This has to violate some kind of hippa laws or something, right?”

“Oh, it’s fine,” Michael waved it off, hoisting himself up to sit on the counter as he glanced at his clipboard, eyebrows raising. “I was about to ask what you were in for, but… yeah. Ok. Do you want me to have Sam go wait out in the waiting room?”

“Sam’s getting tested too, you ass.”

“Oh,” Michael nodded slowly, and then leaned as far back as the counter would let him. “Please tell me that you two were just dumb enough to sleep with the same person. Like, I’ve met Castiel, hottest little librarian―no offence Sam―but he seemed like a really clean guy. No funny business, you know.”

The conversation was going just about as well as Lucifer had anticipated, and he really wished that he’d made himself some coffee before leaving the house. Coffee always made Mike easier to deal with. “When the hell did you have a chance to have a sit down with Cas?”

“Oh, we had lunch together last week, he’s writing some kind of research paper. He said he’d talked to you about it.” 

Lucifer pinched the bridge of his nose. 

“We’re together now,” Sam said, obviously trying to step in and save Lucifer. It didn’t help, but the kid did mean well, for whatever that was worth. 

The patient clipboard came up to hide the lower half of Michael’s face, masking most of his horrified expression. The whites of his eyes were still showing, though, and he hesitantly asked, “And you two just wanted a little health check up before making it official?”

“Already made it  _ official _ ,” a tinge of annoyance had started to creep into Sam’s tone, and it was nice to see that Michael drove everyone crazy, and didn’t just specialise in making Lucifer wish he was an only child. “Last night, and the night before that,” Sam counted off, very deliberately, adding on, “and a quick one this morning.”

Michael dipped below his clipboard to partially hide his whispered profanity.

“Thanks for the congratulations, Mikey,” Lu said, slumping down in his seat and not at all sure why his twin would suddenly be so against a relationship between Sam and him. After all, Michael had been pushing for them to get together since Sam came back to California. 

“No,” Mike whined softly, slapping the clipboard down against his legs. “I mean  _ Yay _ . Good that you two finally pulled your heads out of your own asses long enough to notice each other, but I had fifty bucks riding on Sam being all noble and strong and resisting at least until our birthday.”

Sam suddenly leaned forward, elbows on his knees, “Is that why you were reminding me of when his birthday is, and telling me that me and Luci should go away for a weekend, and even if he said no at first I should talk him into it, because he really, really, actually likes having a fuss made over him even if he says he doesn’t?”

Those words were so oddly specific that Lucifer almost heard them in his brother’s voice. 

More importantly than his own twin conspiring against him, Lucifer’s biggest problem with what he was hearing had been completely overlooked by Sam.

“Are you saying you bet money on if Sam and I would get together?” he demanded.

Mike blew out an annoyed little breath. “Come on. We all bet on  _ when _ . It was obviously going to happen eventually.”

“Who is ‘ _ we all _ ’ exactly?” Sam demanded before Lucifer could open his mouth. 

“Well…” Michael scrunched up his nose, looking like he was bracing for how badly he knew his words were about to be received. “It’s really just between me and Cas and Kelvin, and then… you know, your brother, and our brother… and June, but just those. Some other people knew about the bet, but they weren’t in on it for money… if that helps.”

It didn’t help, and Lucifer was about ready to grab Mike by the ears and pull him off the counter to have some strong words with him. 

Sam butted in first though, a look of irritation clear on his face. “My brother? I don’t even want to know why and how you’re in contact with Dean… but he won didn’t he?”

Michael nodded, and Sam instantly sank back into his seat, muttering, “son of a bitch,” under his breath.


	34. Chapter 34

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh, the struggle to get the end of this story was real, but we made it.  
thank you guys for sticking it out with me this whole time! When this story started I had zero idea where it went after the first chapter, and I'm so happy how it grew up.   
Thank you   
thank you   
thank you  
for all the kudos, and comments, and starbucks donations that kept me going <3

“You know, part of the whole ‘me coming out to California thing’ is to get away from the snow,” Dean complained, standing at the open bed of Lu’s truck and blowing into his cupped hands to warm them. 

“But this is mountain snow,” Sam grinned, “infinitely better than Kansas snow.”

Dean looked doubtful, but took the bag that Lu handed him and turned to look out at the trees, and then the cabin. “Don’t think I’ve ever been the only person at a hotel before.”

“Hotel?” Lucifer slid out of the back of his truck, pushing the extra bags and such with him, letting them fall heavy into the snow bank. “Don’t know what your brother’s been telling you, but  _ that _ ,” he pointed at the steep roofed cabin nestled between the snow heavy trees, “is my uncle’s cabin, not a hotel. And we’re also not the only ones staying here. Everyone else is just coming up later.”

“Everyone else,” Dean mumbled, looking long and hard at the overwhelmingly large cabin. “Is this like a timeshare kinda thing?”

Sam scooped up their bags and began nudging his brother towards the porch. “No. His uncle just has a couple vacation houses, and isn’t using this one right now.”

Dean gave a small, startled laugh. “Sure. Everyone has a couple vacation houses just laying around.”

“Just wait until you see the inside,” Sam followed in Lucifer’s deep footprints, trudging through the kneed deep snow. “There’s a fireplace in the bathroom.”

It was something that had made Sam laugh a year ago, and he was happy to see the same reaction in his brother when he showed him the upstairs floors of the cabin. 

Dean took it all in with an impressed laugh and then promptly tried to claim the master bedroom for his own, throwing himself down onto the bed and grinning. “Aw, man. I could get used to this.” 

“I think you get the couch,” Sam chuckled, pushing his brother’s dirty boots off the blankets. 

“A house this big?” He stretched his arms wide like he planned to make snow angels on the bed, grinning up at Sam, “With all these rooms? Like hell am I sleeping on a couch.”

“Well, pretty much everyone else coming up for the weekend are going to be couples,” Sam tried to explain, “You don’t get to call dibs on a whole bed to yourself, and make two other people sleep on the couch.”

“Why the hell not?” Dean sat up. “If they wanted the nice beds then they should have gotten here earlier… who is everyone else, anyways? Anyone I know?” He asked with a hopeful grin and added, “Maybe a pretty and adventurous blonde and her short, but equally adventurous boyfriend? Because I don’t mind sharing my room with them.”

”It’s not  _ your _ room, and as far as I know Gabriel is coming, but I don’t know if he’s bringing June.” Sam pushed his brother’s shoulder. “And don’t smile like that. At least not if I’m in the same room as you. It’s gross.”

“ _ I’m  _ gross?” Dean grinned. “Dude, you’re the one engaged to a guy. I’d say you’re at least twice as gross as I’ll ever be.”

Sam grinned and looked away, hating that he still couldn’t keep a straight face anytime he thought about. “Yeah. Maybe, but he hasn’t told his family yet, and he doesn’t know that I told you, so maybe shut up about it.” 

It wasn’t properly official. 

Just a promise.

But Sam had asked and Lucifer had said yes, and seeing as verbal contracts were binding in the state of California, Sam had no intention of letting his boyfriend back out. 

Dean pushed himself off the bed, smacking Sam’s shoulder surprisingly hard. “Hey, Sammy. You know all your big gay secrets are safe with me.”

“What gay secrets?” Lucifer asked from the doorway, looking at the brothers with a smile.

“If I told, then they wouldn’t be secrets,” Dean sneered. 

“I know how secrets work,” Lu sniped right back, easily matching the obnoxious levels of sass. 

Sam stood there, not at all sure he was going to be able to survive this week with both men. Somehow he’d managed to forget how similar they were in all the absolutely most annoying ways. A gnawing fact that quickly started to slip away from him once more as Lucifer slid up beside him and tucked a hand in his back pocket.

“Hey, Dean,” Lu said very pointedly, “go explore the house or something, and close the bedroom door on your way out.”

“ _ My _ bedroom door,” Dean argued. “I already claimed it.”

“Claimed it?” He laughed.

“Yeah. It’s mine. If you boys wanted the big bed then one of you should’ve called shotgun or something.” Dean folded his arms, frowning smugly, obviously not willing to give up the master bedroom so quickly. 

Sam could already tell that his brother and his boyfriend were poised for a standoff of stubborn stupidity. Though he’d been trying to play peacemaker between the two since Dean arrived two days ago, he could feel his patience already wearing thin.

Part of him wanted to just give Dean the nice room, but a slightly bigger part of him had wanted to have sex with Lucifer in that big beautiful bed since the last time they’d been to the cabin. 

He turned to look at Lucifer, ready to apologise and suggest they take the room down the hall, but before he could get the words out his boyfriend was kissing him and pushing him down on the bed―utterly in spite of Dean standing right beside them. 

Or to spite Dean. 

It was a subtle difference that wasn’t actually all that important to Sam as he happily kissed back. 

Over the past six months him and Lu had found how they fit together. A lot of trial and a little error until they realised that they both prefered to take things slow, deliberate and thorough; but, with Dean in the room apparently Lucifer had decided to treat sex like a race, with no lead up at all he was spreading Sam’s legs and grinding against him.

Blood rushed to Sam’s face and he had to break the kiss, laughing.

“Not cool, dudes,” Dean complained with disgust, the sounds of his angry footsteps retreating, followed by the slam of the door. 

Instantly, Lucifer relaxed, his touch turning gentle as he kissed Sam’s cheek and rolled off him. “God, it’s just too easy.”

“You know, you can’t always kiss me to chase him off,” Sam chuckled and found Lu’s hand, hooking their fingers together. “I’m not saying I mind you trying, but he’s going to get desensitised to it real fast, and then he’ll just be smacking your ass and sitting down like he doesn’t give a damn.”

Lucifer chuckled warmly and planted a kiss on Sam’s shoulder. “I know how Mike likes to joke about us all basically playing musical-chairs with our boyfriends over the last year, but if your brother touches my ass I’m breaking his fingers.”

“Well, don’t do it while Mike’s around, because you know he’d want to play doctor with Dean, and then… well, musical-boyfriend chairs.”

“Nah, him and Kelvin were looking at upholstery swatches together last week and  _ enjoying  _ themselves. Mike lives for that kinda garbage. Those two weirdos are soulmates.”

“Soulmates,” Sam repeated softly, loving that even now, after a year and a half of knowing Lu, the man still surprised him. “You believe in that kinda thing?”

He scrunched up his nose, making faces while he weighed his answer. “Cas once told me that some people are drawn to each other because their atoms were close when the universe was created and over time the same atoms keep coming back together. I told him that was bad science… but I kind of want it to be true.” 

“I’m suddenly really wishing that Cas wasn’t coming up tonight. Dean’s gonna have a field day with him.”

“Don’t worry about Cas. If I couldn’t ruffle his feathers then Dean’s not gonna stand a chance.”

Sam laughed.

“No, I bet you,” he grinned, already so sure of himself, “not only is your brother not gonna be able to get a rise out of Cas, but that Dean’s gonna be the one gettin’ all riled up by the end of tonight.”

The idea that anyone could get the best of Dean had Sam shaking his head. With another laugh, he shifted closer until his and Lu’s noses touched. “I’ll take that bet.”

Mike and Kelvin arrived a little before dinner, changing Dean’s status from third-wheel to fifth-wheel, and Sam was just glad that his brother didn’t seem to mind. Dean had claimed himself king of the kitchen, and mercifully had allowed Lu to join him as a visiting dignitary, and the two were happily cooking together like they were best friends.

“You know,” Mike leaned into Sam’s side, pointing towards the men who were sword fighting with spatulas, “them joking around and poking at each other, that’s how you and Lu got started too.”

Sam narrowed his eyes at his old ex. 

“I’m just saying. All of us? We’re basically one step away from being swingers―”

Kelvin didn’t even look up from his phone as he reached over and pinched Michael’s side, at precisely the same time that Sam elbowed the man in the ribs. The two sided attack sent Michael into a fit of laughter, but thankfully he let the subject drop.

Sam wasn’t afraid of losing his boyfriend to his brother. The idea was ridiculous. However, he was concerned that if not properly discouraged Michael would start suggesting they turn this little vacation into a key party or something. It wasn’t that Michael didn’t love Kelvin. It was obvious he was ass over teakettle for the guy every time they caught each other’s eye. But fundamentally, Michael was still Michael―and he was a man with poor decision making skills when it came to his own love life. 

Which meant that after dinner, Kelvin and Mike were forcibly banished to the hot tub, and the remaining three men ended up sitting around the coffee table beside the fireplace, with a deck of cards and a couple beers.

“So, we’re just gonna be doin’ this three amigos thing all weekend?” Dean asked as he dealt out their next hand, setting his and Sam’s down nicely and flicking Lucifer’s cards to him like they were ninja stars.

Sam couldn’t be sure from where he was sitting, but it looked like Lucifer kicked Dean under the table before collecting his wayward cards from the rug where they’d fallen. 

“No,” Lu straightened back up. “Cas should be coming in tonight, and you two can keep eachother company while Sam and I have some awesome and loud marathon style sex.”

Dean made a face and picked up the hand he’d dealt himself, and began re-arranging them. “Gross. Also, still not super pumped on the idea of spending my weekend with anyone named Cas or Cassy. I’ve got a track record.” He absently rubbed at the spot over his heart where his old girlfriend’s name used to be. “You sure Gabe and June aren’t going to make it?”

“With as sick as June is?” Lu glanced up from his cards. “She better not try driving up here.”

They’d gotten a text from Gabriel during dinner, who’d decided it would he’d have to bail on their vacation plans to stay home to look after his girlfriend. Though it freed up a bedroom for Dean, so he wouldn’t be stuck on the couch with Cas, it was obvious that Dean had been looking forward to reuniting with the couple after their one night together the year before. 

“You’ll like Cas,” Sam lied. “He’s… he’s kind of a nerd. Maybe you two can talk about Star Wars or something.”

Dean didn’t look sold on the plan, but he also didn’t have a say in the matter.

Lucifer gave Sam a sideways look, clearly thinking about the bet they’d made that afternoon. “Cas? Yeah, he’s a nerd for space stuff, but you know he’s still working on his doctoral thesis.”

Sam felt his cheeks grow warm, remembering how Castiel had eventually worn him down and the two of them had a very long, very intimate conversation about the differences between how Luci and Mike treated romance and sex. Oh, but Sam had needed to have a couple shots of whiskey before he’d been able to get into the level of detail that Cas had wanted. 

“Oh god, that’s right,” Dean grumbled, “you told me he’s like one of those upper-tier nerds. Fan-fuckin’-tastic. I’ll be stuck listening to him talkin’ about medical crap or whatever all weekend.”

“Oh, he’s gonna tell you about sex, and the psycology of attraction,” Lucifer chuckled into his beer, “whether you want him to or not. So, get ready.”

“Oh wait,” Dean looked over at his brother, his eyes widening a touch, “he’s  _ that _ friend.”

Sam nodded.

“Son of a bitch,” Dean grumbled without much feeling. 

Under the table, a hand slid over Sam’s knee and he looked up to see his boyfriend smiling quietly behind his drink. 

It wasn’t a remotely romantic conversation the three of them were having, and really not even a romantic secret little touch, but it sent Sam’s heart fluttering, same as it always did. Pretty much since the night they’d met, Lucifer had held that power over Sam. Those instant butterflies in his stomach, and a smile that he couldn’t ever hope to hide. 

Sam didn’t even realise that he’d gotten lost in that warm, weightless feeling again as he and Lucifer sat there grinning at one another, until Dean was getting up from the table.

“No, it’s ok,” Dean announced loudly. “You two just keep on making eyes at each other. I’ll just go get the door. Maybe I’ll get lucky and it’s a bear and he can eat me and save me from this third-wheel hell… oh,” Dean trailed off, holding the door half open and staring out into the moonlit night. 

From where they were still sitting, Sam could just barely see Cas standing out on the porch, bundled up in a heavy coat against the chill mountain air Cas didn’t seem to be in any hurry to come in from the cold.

“You must be Dean,” Cas’s gruff voice barely made it back to where Sam and Lucifer were sitting, his words nearly lost under the happy crackle of the fireplace. 

“Yeah, um, that’s me. I’m Dean.”

A surprised bubble of laughter caught in Sam’s throat. He didn’t think he’d ever heard his brother stumbling over words like that before―but the laughter faded as he watched his big brother finally seem to remember how to move, and Dean was standing aside to let Cas come in the whole time watching the dark haired man with a wide eyed blush coloring his face.

Sam was nearly certain his brother hadn’t had that much to drink, but Dean followed after Cas with a stunned expression, looking like a man who’d just seen his first unicorn.

“W-what―” Sam started to try and say something, anything, but Luci was squeezing his leg.

“Shh,” the blond scooted around to Sam’s side of the table, to slide an arm around his waist and grin as the other two men came in to join them. 

“Sam,” Cas nodded, smiling, “Luci… are we playing cards?”

“We were just getting ready to call it a night, actually,” Lu said, grinning up at their friend. 

“Just one round?” Cas started to lower himself to the ground, shrugging out of his coat. “I really enjoy cards.”

“Sure thing,” Dean said before anyone else could argue, sitting himself down too, collecting up all the cards from their previous game and starting to shuffle. 

Lucifer wasn’t having it though, laughing as he gently told the newcomer, “Cas, you don’t know how to play.”

“Everyone knows how to play Go Fish. Even me.” Cas narrowed his eyes at Lu, then turned a soft smile to Dean as he collected up the five cards being pushed his way. “Thank you.”

“We aren’t,” Dean fumbled clumsily over his words, “um, I mean, we were playing poker.”

Cas blinked, looked down at his cards, then back to Dean. “I don’t know that one.”

Very little that Castiel said surprised Sam anymore. The guy was weird. Not a bad weird, but definitely something at an upper level on the weird-scale that was impossible to miss. 

“Is it a complicated game?” Cas asked, scooting himself around the edge of the table until he was side to side with Dean. “Can you teach me? I’m a very fast learner.”

Dean shifted, but didn’t scoot away from the close talking man who was crowding his space. “Sure thing, Cas.”

Dumbfounded and confused, Sam watched his red faced older brother clumsily try and explain the basic rules of poker to a blue eyed man who was very nearly sitting in his lap.

Sam turned his face into the crook of his boyfriend’s neck and whispered, “What the hell is happening?” 

“I’m winning that bet from earlier,” Luci turned his face enough to kiss Sam’s cheek, his stubble prickling lightly. “Cas is a wrecking ball, and your brother is already down like a pile of bricks.”

Sam wanted to argue, not because he needed to win the little half bet they’d made, but because Dean looked somewhere between either a deer in headlights, or a man having a religious experience, as he bumbled his way through trying to remember how to play a game that he’d been beating Sam at since they were kids. 

“Is that how I look at you?” Sam asked instead, and feeling the answering rumble of laughter as Lucifer tightened his arm around Sam’s waist. “But I’m not  _ that _ obvious, right?”

“No,” he lightly trailed a finger up the underside of Sam’s jaw, tipping his face up to give him a slow, lingering open mouthed kiss, speaking with their lips still together, “you’re so much worse.”

Sam snapped his teeth at his boyfriend in a wordless protest to the teasing.

Lucifer couldn’t be deterred, especially not by the threat of biting, and he nuzzled close, mouthing, “and sometimes, you look at me almost as stupidly as I look at you,” between lingering kisses, “and I love it.  _ And _ ... I think you might have lost that bet.” 

It was clear that Dean was far too stunned to even try getting the upper hand with Cas, though it was too soon to guess who would be getting under whose skin.

“I’m a bit light on cash,” Sam said with a grin, resting his hands against Lucifer’s chest and feeling the steady, comforting beating of his heart. “You think you might consider letting me work off the debt?” 

A wild and beautiful grin bloomed over Lu’s face and his own hands came to rest on Sam’s hips, giving a gentle squeeze. “What’d you have in mind?” 

Quite a few things had come to Sam’s mind, in fact. 

"I could tell you, but I think we’d both like it better if I just show you," Sam said teasingly.

Luci bit his lip in a lopsided grin, clearly in agreement as he hauled Sam to his feet and made for the stairs without even saying goodnight to the rest of the house. 

There might need to be apologies made come morning, but right then, running up the stairs with Lucifer, there wasn’t a single thing that Sam was sorry for.

  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
